A firm’s first look at outsourced paralegal support usually starts with the same question: what actually happens between saying yes and seeing real work come back? From enquiry to first delivery, the sequence is short, structured, and deliberately bounded, so the firm is never guessing what happens next.
What does the sequence look like, from enquiry to first delivery?
An initial call to scope the need, a written agreement covering confidentiality and supervision, a scoped first task, and delivery of that task on an agreed timescale, reviewed before anything is treated as final, following the four steps on our How It Works page. Each stage exists to remove a specific risk: the call prevents a mismatched task, the written agreement prevents ambiguity about who supervises what, and the review step prevents anything reaching a client file before the firm has checked it.
What happens on the initial call
The scoping call is short and specific. It covers what the task actually involves, what systems or file access it needs, how the firm wants the work returned, and what “done” looks like for that particular piece of work. This is also where how a dedicated paralegal works day to day gets discussed, so the firm knows exactly what to expect once the first task is underway.
Most firms come to that call with a specific task already in mind, whether that is trial bundling, disclosure review, or drafting support, but a general sense of “we need more capacity” is also a fine starting point. Part of the call’s purpose is helping the firm narrow that down to a task that is well suited to a first delivery, one where the standard of a good result is easy to describe and easy to check.
What the firm needs to prepare before the call
Very little preparation is required to move from enquiry to first delivery. A short description of the task, an indication of urgency, and a sense of which fee earner will supervise the work are usually enough to make the call productive. Firms do not need a fully specified brief at this stage; that level of detail gets worked out during the scoping call itself, and refined further once the written agreement is in place.
Why the written agreement comes before any file moves
Nothing is shared until confidentiality and supervision terms are agreed in writing. This is not a formality; it is the point covered in our article on why supervision needs to be in writing, and it applies at exactly the same standard whether the first task is small or substantial, as set out in our piece on the confidentiality agreement behind outsourced work.
Why does starting with a defined pilot matter?
It gives both sides a bounded first experience to judge the fit against, rather than an open-ended commitment neither side has tested yet, an approach covered in our article on what a trial-matter guarantee actually means in practice. A firm sees real output, on a real deadline, before deciding whether to extend the arrangement beyond that first task. There is no obligation attached to that first delivery, which is precisely what makes it useful as a test.
How the first task is chosen
The first task is picked deliberately, not at random. It should be representative of the kind of work the firm actually wants to hand over on an ongoing basis, small enough to deliver quickly, and specific enough that the standard expected is unambiguous. Firms that get this stage right tend to see the clearest signal of whether the arrangement will work, a point echoed in our article on how credibility wins pilot instructions.
What determines whether it becomes an ongoing arrangement
Moving from enquiry to first delivery smoothly depends on whether the delivered work met the standard expected, on the timescale agreed, on a task that was properly scoped from the outset, priced from £800 a month on our Pricing page. If those conditions are met, the step from a single pilot task to a standing arrangement is usually straightforward, since the firm has already tested supervision, turnaround, and quality on a real matter rather than a hypothetical one.
If the first task falls short, the firm owes nothing beyond that task and is under no pressure to continue. That is a deliberate feature of moving from enquiry to first delivery this way rather than through a longer contractual commitment: the firm gets a genuine test before any bigger decision is made, and a below-standard first delivery is useful information rather than a sunk cost.
What the weeks after a successful first delivery look like
Once a first task has gone well, most firms move into a short settling-in period rather than an immediate full handover of work. Our guide on the first 30 days of an outsourcing engagement covers that stage in detail, and our piece on what changes over the first three months sets out how the arrangement typically develops from there. The pilot, the short step from enquiry to first delivery, is deliberately the smallest, lowest-risk part of that whole journey.
The Solicitors Regulation Authority’s guidance on supervision of delegated work is worth reading alongside this, since the same supervisory responsibility that applies to an ongoing arrangement applies from the very first pilot task.
Ready to see what a first pilot task would actually look like?
Book an introductory call and we will scope a defined first task from there, from enquiry to first delivery, with no obligation to continue afterwards.
Confidential · No obligation · Typically a 20-minute call
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does it take to go from enquiry to a first delivered task?
Typically days once scope and supervision terms are agreed in writing, since there is no recruitment process involved.
Typically days once scope and supervision terms are agreed in writing, since there is no recruitment process involved.
Is a written agreement needed even for a small first task?
Yes, confidentiality and supervision terms are agreed in writing before any file moves, regardless of the task’s size.
Yes, confidentiality and supervision terms are agreed in writing before any file moves, regardless of the task’s size.
What happens if the first delivered task doesn’t meet expectations?
The firm is under no obligation to continue. The trial-matter approach exists specifically to let firms judge fit before committing further.
The firm is under no obligation to continue. The trial-matter approach exists specifically to let firms judge fit before committing further.
Who chooses the first task in a pilot engagement?
The firm does, with input on scope during the initial call, so the task is representative of the work the firm actually wants to hand over.
The firm does, with input on scope during the initial call, so the task is representative of the work the firm actually wants to hand over.
