I'm a contract paralegal in Bellevue. I take the drafting, discovery and deadline work off your desk so your hours go where they actually bill. Per matter, overflow or ongoing.
Accepting new mattersI work with attorneys and law firms only. I'm a paralegal, not a lawyer, so I don't give legal advice or take clients of my own. Everything I produce comes to you as a draft for your review and signature.
I'm Jathiya. I live in Bellevue, I'm finishing an ABA approved paralegal certificate at Edmonds College and a master's in compliance and risk management at Seattle University School of Law, and I spent the last eight years doing the kind of work paralegals are made of. Multi-state business filings. Records that had to be audit ready. Members and clients who needed a calm, competent person on the other end of the phone.
I started freelancing because small firms kept telling me the same thing: there's too much work for the people they have and not quite enough to justify another salary. That gap is where I fit. Hand me the drafting, the discovery, the deadline tracking and the intake, and take back the hours you should be billing.
When a firm brings me on, you get someone who reads the local rules before asking, keeps her time honest and treats your clients like they're mine. Because for the length of the engagement, they are.
Support from intake to resolution, in your systems and your templates. If your practice area isn't listed, ask. Most of this work translates across practice areas.
Trained on Washington's mandatory pattern forms and King County's local family law rules.
The paper side of litigation, kept moving and kept organized.
My specialty. I'm finishing a master's in compliance and risk management at Seattle University School of Law, and I've done multi-state filing work professionally.
A staff paralegal is a fixed salary plus taxes, benefits, software seats and a desk, whether it's trial month or a quiet August. With contract help you pay for hours worked and nothing else. Scale up for trial, scale back after, with no payroll and nothing to unwind.
Substantive paralegal work bills to your clients at market rates, not at what you pay me. That principle comes straight from the U.S. Supreme Court, and typical paralegal billing rates run $100 to $200 an hour. Most firms bill contract paralegal time at two to three times their cost. I track my time in six-minute increments so your invoicing stays clean.
Software: Clio, Westlaw research, Microsoft Word at assessed proficiency including Track Changes and tables of authorities, Adobe Acrobat Pro, Excel, DocuSign and Washington e-filing systems. Writing samples are available on request, prepared on fictional facts with no client information in them, and professional references are available the same way.
Matter type, the tasks and the deadline. I reply within one business day with availability and a rate. The scope call costs nothing.
I run a conflict check against every party I've touched for any firm, then we sign a short engagement naming the scope, the rate and the supervising attorney.
Drafts come to you marked for attorney review, on your timeline, with time records and a clean invoice at whatever cadence you like.
Billed in six-minute increments with line-item invoices. Flat fees and monthly blocks available when the work is defined. No charge for the first conversation.
I work as an independent contractor, the on-demand model. You engage me per matter or per project, exactly when the caseload requires it, and release me when it does not. No payroll taxes, no benefits, no software seats, no desk. You get a W-9 for your records and a 1099 handles the rest at year end.
The rates above are starting points. Every engagement gets its own written confirmation of scope, rate and the supervising attorney before work begins, so the number you agree to is the number you are billed. Costs like filing fees and postage pass through at cost with receipts. Invoices arrive at your cadence, monthly by default, payable net 15. No minimum hours, no ongoing commitment, and the first conversation is always free.
A documented conflict check against every party from every firm I work with, before any engagement, every time. If there's a conflict I tell you and walk away.
I'll sign your NDA before you share a thing. Client materials stay in your systems where possible, and anything on my side is handled like privileged material, because it is.
Everything routes through you. I don't advise clients, appear in court, set fees or sign pleadings. My job is making the supervising attorney's job lighter, not replacing it.
Remote by default, and most firms never need me in the office. For firms in King County and the Eastside I can come on site by arrangement, including short notice coverage when someone is out.
You do. Every engagement names a supervising attorney, and everything I produce comes to that attorney as a draft for review and signature. I don't take work directly from the public, ever.
Before any engagement I check your party names against a log of every matter I've touched for any firm. If there's a hit, I tell you and step aside. You get the result in writing either way.
Your systems first. If you use Clio, a document portal or a shared drive, I work inside it so your file stays complete. If you'd rather use email, I return clean, consistently named documents with a transmittal note.
New inquiries get a reply within one business day. On active matters you'll hear from me the same day, and rush work is a conversation up front, not a surcharge surprise on the invoice.
Nothing. The scope call is free, flat fees are quoted in writing before work starts and there's no minimum commitment. Try me on one project.
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