About Us

Position: Managing Partner
E-mail: bobhoward@virtualparalegal.pro
Phone: 800.986.9308

A recognized sales strategy innovator and thought leader, Bob Howard is the Founder and Managing Partner of Virtual Paralegal Pros.

Bob has a distinguished career selling and providing a wide variety of turnaround and operations support for professional services companies of all kinds, including law firms. Since 1996 Bob and his partners have provided back office operations and administrative support to hundreds of clients. In 2016, Bob and his team began to focus these efforts increasingly for law firms. Thus, in 2017 Virtual Paralegal Pros was established as a separate entity.

The firm’s value propositions are centered on its ability to recruit very bright, educated and trained professionals who can assist most any law firm, large or small, to reduce wasted time and staff turnover, improve profitability and grow its client base faster.

Earlier in his career, Bob helped build the Litigation Support practice for Arthur Andersen. He also spent 15 years in corporate financing services with GE Capital, PruCapital and Park Central Acceptance, a restructuring, bankruptcy and insurance company.

Bob holds a BA in Physical Anthropology and MBA in Finance and Administration from the University of Texas at Austin. He has been a frequent visiting speaker at the Graduate School of Business and has testified before the FERC and a number of other government agencies. Bob is a co-founder of Venture and Philanthropy and serves on the Board of Sales OverDrive.

Position: Partner – Asian Operations
E-mail: jakiadams@virtualparalegal.pro
Phone: 800.986.9308

Jaki Adams is our Partner in Charge of Asian Operations and has ultimate responsibility for the offshore staff serving Virtual Paralegal Pros and all other Asian operations which include sales, training, marketing, accounting and customer service. With 13 years of industry experience and nine years in this capacity, Jaki has assisted in the successful development of marketing campaigns that have increased the profitability of all our consulting and outsourcing clients. She also collaborates with clients and business partners to ensure the delivery of high-quality service to our clients with very nearly zero turnover in our staff. Jaki is the youngest person ever to achieve Partner Status anywhere in our group of companies.

Jaki is a graduate of Business Administration with a Major in Accountancy with honors from AMA University, is married to another of our senior staff, Ryan Traquina and has an eight year old son, Travis.

Position: Partner – Recruitment Services
E-mail: ellenhess@virtualparalegal.pro
Phone: 800.986.9308

Ellen Hess is responsible for the Firm’s US Recruitment and is the owner of EM Resources. Ellen has 25 years of human resource management experience with strong recruitment experience. She has invested two decades working as a recruiting executive and consultant providing staffing solutions and human capital support to companies of all sizes. Ellen and her team have exceptional expertise in sourcing and recruiting great talent and are the “Go-To” team for Virtual Paralegal Pros clients in need of exceptional Legal Assistants and Paralegals.

Ellen holds a BBA in Personnel Management and Organization Behavior from the University of North Texas where she was a member of the Management Honor Society.

Position: Associate Partner
E-mail: ryantraquina@virtualparalegal.pro
Phone: 800.986.9308

Ryan Traquiña is an Associate Partner and Lead Project Manager for Virtual Paralegal Pros. He is responsible for designing and executing the mission and goals for the firm. Ryan is responsible for devising and executing the project plans for our clients and is responsible for all offshore Technology matters.

Ryan has considerable experience working in the outsourcing industry. He has 13 years of experience providing customer support, technical, sales and back office services for consulting, mortgage, real estate, satellite broadcasting, public utility, and telecommunication companies in the US, UK, Australia, and in the Philippines. He has served a wide variety of clients, from small business to Fortune 500 companies such as JP Morgan Chase, Direct TV, Sprint, and Dish Network.

Ryan graduated from the International Philippine School in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and then went on to study Information Technology at the AMA University in the Philippines.

Position: Senior Supervising Paralegal
E-mail: lauriegyles@virtualparalegal.pro
Phone: 800.986.9308

Laurie Gyles is a Senior Supervising Paralegal and has responsibility for staff oversight, training and client relations for Virtual Paralegal Pros. She is also responsible for the performance and accuracy of all of the Virtual Paralegal Pro administrative staff, Legal Assistants and other Paralegals.

Laurie has over 25 years of experience working both in-office and virtually for several law firms. Her extensive experience includes Personal Injury, Bankruptcy, Debt Defense, both Plaintiff and Defendant work, Insurance Defense including Malpractice as well as Family Law, Transactional Law, Wills and Estates, Landlord/Tenant and Credit and Collections. Laurie has managed several firms and has trained a number of paralegals legal assistants as well as new attorneys in several areas of law, which is one of the key responsibilities in her role with Virtual Paralegal Pros.

Laurie received her Paralegal Certificate from the University of Montana and her Degree in Paralegal Studies from the University of Alaska Southeast.

Position: Senior Manager
E-mail: sunshinereed@virtualparalegal.pro
Phone: 800.986.9308

Sunshine Reed is a Senior Manager at Virtual Paralegal Pros and manages one of the largest groups of specialists in the Philippines, all of whom serve law firms. She’s an enthusiastic and innovative professional with extensive experience in management, business administrative and human resources. She is responsible for defining and achieving team goals and overseeing performance. This includes monitoring the team’s work schedules and workload as well as conducting training programs and fine tuning process flows to achieve higher productivity.

Sunshine has played an important role in keeping performance levels very high and attrition low through her very collegial approach to management. Sunshine does a brilliant job of making sure that everyone is made to feel like “Family” and are placed in the roles in which they will be the most productive and happy.

In her nine years of increasing management responsibility, Sunshine has managed a variety of projects including case development, legal assistance, fraud Investigations and customer service.

Sunshine holds a BA in Communication Arts. She has an entrepreneurial mindset and is also the founder and designer of CuddlyBabies.net, an unusual brand of clothing for children.