Attorney Onboarding

Remote-first legal operations support for attorneys and law firms, with South Jersey office and field support available when requested

Attorney-Supervised Support. South Jersey Professional Solutions provides attorney-supervised administrative and legal-operations support. The supervising attorney retains responsibility for legal judgment, client advice, strategy, substantive legal work, and final work product.

Welcome

South Jersey Professional Solutions can support your firm with:

  • Matter and file setup — intake organization, folder structure, naming conventions, and checklist setup
  • Document organization, indexing, bookmarking, and quality control
  • Discovery collection and production support
  • Case chronologies and fact timelines from attorney-provided materials
  • Exhibit, hearing, deposition, and trial-binder preparation
  • Scheduling, deadline tracking, and routine status follow-up
  • Attorney-approved routine, non-substantive correspondence
  • E-filing and service-package assembly under attorney direction
  • Process service and South Jersey field support
  • Document printing, scanning, copying, delivery, and logistics

Work is remote-first. In-person support is available at a South Jersey office, courthouse, records location, or other approved location when the assignment requires it.

What the Supervising Attorney Provides

Before work begins, please provide:

  • Supervising attorney name, firm, email, phone, and preferred communication method
  • Matter details — matter name, matter number, client name or identifier, practice area, and jurisdiction
  • Written scope — deliverables, priorities, deadlines, and milestone dates
  • Direct supervision and review instructions
  • Conflict-screening process and any restricted parties or matters
  • Approved templates, naming conventions, citation style, filing requirements, and examples
  • Secure file-transfer method and approved systems
  • Confidentiality, retention, deletion, and device requirements
  • Client-contact boundaries and escalation instructions
  • Billing contact, rate or project fee, minimum, and invoice instructions

Secure File Instructions

Preferred Transfer Method

Use the firm's approved secure client portal, document-management system, encrypted file-transfer service, or other method designated by the supervising attorney. Share files only with the named recipients and confirm permissions before uploading.

Do Not Send by Ordinary Email

Do not send unredacted client records, discovery, medical information, financial information, credentials, or other sensitive material through ordinary email unless the supervising attorney expressly approves that method for the specific file.

Before Uploading

  • Confirm the matter name and matter number
  • Confirm the intended recipient and permission level
  • Remove unrelated files and duplicate drafts
  • Use clear file names: MatterNumber_DocumentType_Date_Version
  • Confirm whether files are originals, working copies, or final versions
  • Identify privileged, confidential, sealed, or restricted material
  • Confirm whether redaction is required before transfer
  • Do not include passwords, access codes, or private keys in the same message as a file

File Naming Standard

Use: [MatterNumber]_[ShortDescription]_[YYYY-MM-DD]_[Version]

Examples:

  • SMJ-024_InitialDiscovery_2026-09-19_v01
  • SMJ-024_ExhibitIndex_2026-09-19_FINAL
  • SMJ-024_ServicePacket_2026-09-19_v02

Access and Credentials

  • Provide the minimum access needed for the assignment
  • Use an individual account whenever the system supports it
  • Never share a firm's master password
  • Send a temporary password through a separate approved channel
  • Tell us when access should be removed
  • Report suspected misdelivery, unauthorized access, or lost devices immediately

After Transfer

  • Confirm receipt through the approved channel
  • Confirm the received file count and major deliverables
  • Report unreadable, corrupted, incomplete, or password-protected files
  • Do not begin substantive work until scope and access are clear
  • Store working copies only in approved locations
  • Delete local downloads and temporary files when the engagement terms require it

Work Authorization and Supervision

The supervising attorney authorizes the assignment, controls legal judgment, and reviews work product before it is sent to a client, court, opposing counsel, or other external recipient when review is required.

South Jersey Professional Solutions does not independently:

  • Give legal advice or explain legal rights
  • Select legal strategy, claims, defenses, or arguments
  • Interpret legal documents or loan terms for a client
  • Draft substantive legal documents for the public
  • Negotiate legal rights or communicate as legal counsel
  • Perform unsupervised client representation
  • Decide whether a filing, service method, or legal deadline is appropriate

Routine non-substantive correspondence may be prepared or sent only when the supervising attorney has approved the content, knows the exact nature of the communication, and identifies the responsible attorney as required by firm policy.

Intake and Kickoff

Kickoff Agenda

  • Confirm the matter scope and desired outcome
  • Confirm the first deliverable and deadline
  • Identify the supervising attorney and backup contact
  • Confirm secure file-transfer and communication channels
  • Review conflicts, confidentiality, and access restrictions
  • Confirm templates, examples, and quality standards
  • Confirm billing method and reporting cadence
  • Confirm what requires attorney approval before release
  • Confirm escalation path for ambiguity, risk, or missing information

First Deliverable

The first deliverable should be small and reviewable: a file index, task map, chronology sample, exhibit list, discovery tracker, or other agreed checkpoint. The purpose is to confirm format and expectations before the full project proceeds.

Communication Rules

  • Use the approved matter subject line or task name on every message
  • Put urgent deadlines in the subject line and state the exact due time
  • Separate facts, questions, completed work, and decisions
  • Escalate ambiguity instead of guessing
  • Report delays as soon as they are known
  • Do not place confidential client details in calendar titles or public comments
  • Keep substantive legal decisions with the supervising attorney

Scope and Billing

Work begins after written scope and pricing approval. Minimums, hourly rates, fixed fees, rush premiums, travel, printing, shipping, and third-party fees are stated in the quote.

Work outside the approved scope pauses for review. Scope changes require a revised quote and attorney or firm approval before extra work begins. Time or unit records should describe the operational task performed, not legal advice or strategy. Invoices identify the matter, approved scope, work period, amount, and any approved additions.

Ethical Billing and Client Disclosure

  • The supervising attorney remains responsible for deciding how our work is described, billed, and disclosed to the client.
  • The firm should not represent outsourced support as attorney time, firm-employee time, or legal judgment performed by the support provider.
  • Disclose the use of outside support when the provider has a material role, receives confidential client information, performs work the client would reasonably expect firm personnel to perform, or when the engagement terms require disclosure.
  • Obtain the client's informed consent before sharing information protected by the duty of confidentiality when consent is required, and use a written confidentiality agreement or equivalent enforceable obligation.
  • Identify the billing basis clearly: professional support fee, approved disbursement, or another agreed category. Do not hide outsourced support charges inside an unexplained cost or fee.
  • Keep the total charge reasonable. If the firm passes our cost through as a disbursement, the conservative approach is actual cost plus only a reasonable, disclosed allocation of directly related overhead, with no undisclosed markup.
  • Do not divide legal fees with a nonlawyer, pay or accept a referral fee for sending legal work, or compensate the provider as a percentage of the firm's legal fee.
  • Keep supervision, conflicts, confidentiality, competence, unauthorized-practice, and final-work-product responsibilities with the supervising attorney and firm.
  • Make sure the client-facing invoice fairly reflects the basis on which the client is being charged and matches the approved engagement terms.

Suggested Client-Facing Disclosure

"Our firm may use South Jersey Professional Solutions, an independent professional-support provider, for attorney-supervised administrative and legal-operations work. The provider does not give legal advice or exercise legal judgment. Our firm remains responsible for supervision, legal advice, strategy, and final work product. Any related charge will be identified in the engagement terms or invoice."

These are operational safeguards, not a substitute for the firm's review of current New Jersey rules, ethics opinions, fee agreements, client-specific instructions, or court requirements.

Closeout

  • Confirm all agreed deliverables are complete
  • Return final files through the approved secure method
  • Identify open items, exceptions, and pending attorney review
  • Confirm whether working files should be retained or deleted
  • Remove system access when authorized
  • Record the final status and date
  • Issue the invoice with the approved quote and change approvals linked

Ready to Start?

Send us the matter details and we'll respond with a written quote.

Request a Quote
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