10 Paralegal Tasks You’re Wasting Time On and What to Delegate Instead

You don’t have to keep doing it all yourself. The right paralegal support helps you stop drowning in admin, focus on what you do best, and build a practice you can actually enjoy.

When you’re trying to meet filing deadlines, respond to clients, handle billing, and still make it home in time for dinner—you probably already know something’s got to give.

Many attorneys, especially those working without a full team, end up stuck doing tasks that someone else could easily handle. These are usually virtual paralegal tasks—important but time-consuming jobs that don’t actually need your expertise to get done right.

Let’s walk through some of the most common paralegal tasks you’re wasting time on and what to delegate instead. You’ll see how freeing up even a few of these can open up space in your week—so you can focus on your cases, your clients, or just having a life outside your practice.

Here Are The 10 Paralegal Tasks You’re likely Spending Too Much Time Doing:

1. Fixing formatting or proofreading legal documents

Ever spent half an hour wrestling with a misaligned signature block or trying to get page numbers to cooperate?

Legal formatting can feel like a game of whack-a-mole—something always shifts out of place. It’s tedious, repetitive, and completely unrelated to your expertise as an attorney. 

Proofreading for typos and making sure every document looks “court ready” is important, but it doesn’t require your legal brainpower. Spending your time here isn’t just inefficient—it’s exhausting.

2. Organizing discovery and evidence

Sorting through folders of scanned documents, labeling exhibits, and trying to keep track of when and where each piece of evidence was submitted is more like clerical work than legal strategy. 

Discovery can easily spiral into chaos if it’s not meticulously organized—and when you’re the one doing it, you risk missing key details just from burnout alone. 

Instead of prepping for a deposition or strategizing your next motion, you’re stuck wondering where that one key document went.

3. Drafting repeat legal documents

Retainer agreements. Demand letters. Standard motions. If you’re drafting these from scratch or even copying and pasting old ones, you’re spending valuable time on work that could easily be templated and systematized. 

These types of documents rarely require heavy legal analysis—what they require is consistency and accuracy, which is something a trained support professional can handle with the right workflow.

4. Managing your calendar and court deadlines

Your calendar is the heartbeat of your practice—and also a major liability if neglected. Between court hearings, client meetings, filing deadlines, and follow-ups, staying on top of it all is a job in itself. 

If you’re the only one managing these logistics, you’re constantly at risk of a missed deadline or double booking. Worse, it pulls your focus away from preparing for the actual legal work.

5. Doing legal research for standard issues

Not all legal research is complex. Often, you just need a quick review of how your jurisdiction handles a particular procedural issue or a reminder of a statute’s latest interpretation. 

Still, pulling case law and combing through annotations can easily eat up your afternoon. Even worse, doing this kind of research yourself makes it harder to stay in “attorney mode,” where your time is better spent applying the research—not gathering it.

6. Responding to new client inquiries and follow-ups

When every intake call, email, or message lands on your desk, it disrupts your workflow and delays other critical tasks. And the longer you wait to respond, the more likely that lead goes cold. 

In fact, according to Harvard Business Review, responding to a new lead within one hour makes you seven times more likely to qualify them. That’s hard to do when you’re knee-deep in case prep or court filings.

7. Updating your case management system

Tools like Clio, MyCase, or PracticePanther only help if someone is keeping them current. If you’re the one logging time entries, uploading documents, tagging contacts, and adding notes, you’re spending way too much time on data entry. 

Plus, when you fall behind, these platforms stop being useful—meaning you’re still paying for software that’s not working for you.

8. Tracking your time and sending invoices

Law firm billing is a lifeline, but managing it manually can feel like death by a thousand paper cuts. If you’re jotting down time on sticky notes or entering it at the end of the week, you’re likely underbilling without realizing it. 

And chasing invoices? That’s even more time spent not practicing law. Every hour spent invoicing is an hour lost from billable work or personal time.

9. Filing documents with the court

Whether you’re e-filing through a clunky portal or walking through in-person requirements, court filings are incredibly particular. 

A single wrong checkbox can lead to a rejection. And redoing filings isn’t just frustrating—it’s expensive in terms of both time and reputation.

If you’re the one doing all the filings, you’re stuck in a logistical loop instead of focusing on your legal arguments.

10. Checking and responding to general emails

Every inbox has a mix of important messages, client updates, and “just checking in” emails. Sorting through it all to find the one message that really needs your attention is a drain. 

If you’re replying to every scheduling email, confirming every meeting, or answering basic questions yourself, that’s valuable time you could spend preparing a motion or reviewing case law. 

Your inbox shouldn’t run your day—you should.

What Paralegal Tasks Should You Delegate Instead

Here’s what a trained virtual paralegal can take off your plate—freeing you up to focus on what only you can do:

• Document formatting and proofreading: Delegate clean-up tasks for pleadings, motions, and agreements.
• Discovery management: A paralegal can label, tag, and summarize evidence and organize it for easy access.
• Template-based drafting: Let someone else fill in common legal forms, so you can focus on strategy and review.
• Calendar and deadline tracking: Hand off your court dates and reminders to someone who won’t let anything slip.
• Legal research: Ask for a quick memo on standard topics instead of diving into the databases yourself.
• Intake and follow-up: Your assistant can manage form collection, screening calls, and appointment scheduling.
• Case management system updates: Keep your platform current without having to manually input everything yourself.
• Billing and invoicing: Get help logging hours, generating invoices, and staying on top of unpaid bills.
• E-filing support: Someone else can upload documents and confirm filing while you prep for the next case.
• Inbox management: Focus on high-level tasks while someone else filters and replies to routine emails.

Even delegating just 2–3 of these can give you hours back each week and help you avoid burnout.

What happens when you stop trying to do it all yourself?

You get time back. You make room to take on another case—or have dinner with your family. You’re no longer bogged down in administrative stuff. And maybe for the first time in months, you feel like you’re actually running your practice instead of being buried by it.

Delegating even a few of these paralegal tasks can help you shift from reactive to proactive. You get more time for clients, more space to think strategically, and fewer things slipping through the cracks.

How Wyzer Staffing Can Lighten Your Load

If you’re spending hours on paralegal tasks that pull you away from actual legal work, Wyzer Staffing offers support that fits the way you work. 

Our virtual paralegals integrate seamlessly into your existing systems, helping you stay organized, meet deadlines, and get back to the work only you can do.

Whether you need help a few hours a week or ongoing, long-term support, we’re here to make your solo or small practice run more smoothly—without the overhead of hiring full-time staff.

Conclusion

You don’t have to keep doing it all yourself. The right paralegal support helps you stop drowning in admin, focus on what you do best, and build a practice you can actually enjoy.

You’ve worked hard to get where you are—now let someone help carry the load.

Stop spending your time on tasks someone else can handle. Let Wyzer Staffing connect you with a reliable, long-term virtual paralegal who gets your workflow and frees you up to focus on your clients—and your life. Contact us today to get started.