How Pre-Paid Legal Plans Can Save Your Employees Time & Money

The economy has turned everyday things into life’s luxuries. Dining out, vacations, magazine subscriptions and even medical and dental visits are being cut from personal budgets due to their costs. In addition to these types of tangible examples, there are other services consumers are either shying away from or eliminating all together based on time, energy and budgetary constraints. I spend most to all of my time working on ways to help employers and organizations get “luxuries” and critical services back into their employee’s/ member’s lives and come across many that people do not realize how easy they are to get or how valuable they truly are.
I am very impressed with how a Pre-Paid Legal Plan gives employment groups and membership organizations the opportunity to provide access to a full menu of legal care that will save individuals in their groups time and money. According to the American Bar Association (“ABA”), the average law abiding citizen will have a need for an attorney every 12 months. Keeping that concept in mind, pre-paid legal plans were created for the purpose of making comprehensive, affordable legal care available to millions of people who cannot afford the expense ( or want to invest the time and energy) to access the simplest legal care. I have become closely associated with one pre-paid legal plan that provides tremendous protection to those who subscribe to it and provides instant access to a nationwide network of attorneys with no limitations.
Think about the times when we may want to solicit legal advice and either put it off or forget about it all together:
· Disputes with service providers.
· Landlord/ Tenant issues
· Loan modification/ foreclosure inquiries
· Wills/ Estates: We never really want to think about what will happen to our assets upon death. Will those who we care about the most and have worked so hard for be properly supported? Statistics point to the fact that over 70% of adults die without a will. This does not need to be the case.
· Traffic tickets: how many times do we just pay the summons because it is cheaper than hiring an attorney?
When you consider all the reasons we would likely consult or retain an attorney, think about the time and energy it takes the individual it would impact? Not only will employees likely miss work as a result, they will be less productive while at work and spend company time and resources pursuing personal matters. It is hard to put an exact dollar figure on this…not only can employers help reduce absences that can be avoided, but they can improve productivity because other employees are not covering two jobs during an absence and also maintain optimal customer service levels. For membership organizations, we all realize how revenues are down and expenses always seem to go up. Often times, members are declining memberships because they themselves are trying to cut expenses. What if your membership organization offered membership privileges that would make members think long and hard about cancelling?

The pre-paid legal plans that we provide to companies and organizations have the following features:
· Access to over 20,000 attorneys, charges of $125.00 per hour, or when appropriate, gives members a 40% discount off their usual and customary hourly rate.
· Nine (9) free services* which include:
· Unlimited initial phone consultations for new legal matters
· Initial one-on-One consultations for new legal matters
· Attorney review of independent legal documents (6 page max.) per new matter
· When appropriate, network attorneys will write letters on member's behalf
· When appropriate, network attorneys will make phone calls on member's behalf
· Assistance in solving problems with government programs such as welfare and INS
· Assistance with small claims court representation
· Free simple will with annual updates
· Members have online access through the plan website to prepare a free living will (advance healthcare directive). Membership access is expanded to spouse and dependents up to 23 years of age.
If you hold a leadership position at a company or membership organization, or own your own business…you should consider offering a Pre-Paid Legal Plan. The cost and value propositions are just tremendous. As we hear everyday how important it is to save money on everything we do, why would you not consider this type of protection?
*Costs and filing fees additional, specific definitions apply.