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Group Legal plans benefits for employer and employee
A properly developed group legal insurance plan can be the perfect complement to any employer’s work life initiative. Considering that many employees are nowadays increasingly swayed by benefit options when making career decisions, Legal insurance is a viable product for many employers.
However, there is no single fit-for-all group legal plan for all organizations. For a start, each organization has a distinct list of requirements when contracting for legal insurance. A requirement built on the premise of reduced administrative costs will require a different set of legal services than requirements built on enhancing a benefits package
or protect against liability. Legal plans also vary in what they offer: the quality of their customer service, flexibility of plan design and finally the experience and professional track record of their panel of attorneys.
In order to minimize the risk of poor service and plummeting employer satisfaction, an employer should conduct both requirements analysis amongst its employee base to cover for their difference needs, and a due research to select the most appropriate legal plan to fit those requirements based on experience, integrity and track record.
Group legal plans
Group legal plans in the workplace have experienced rapid growth recently because of their usefulness to both employer and employee alike.
For the employee, a group legal plan is a cheap way to get legal coverage in much the same way as other traditional benefits. For as little as $20 per month deducted from payroll, an employee is put in touch with an attorney who can draft his will, buy or refinance a home, adopt a child and plan an estate. Unlimited legal advice is offered at no cost to the employee.
The benefits for the employer include increased efficiency and productivity from their workforce, and reduced administration costs to handle personal matters. Another very attractive benefit is the very low cost involved in researching and implementing a group legal plan. In fact, such plans cost employers very little in terms of time and investment.
Group plans are structured on a voluntary basis, paid for through payroll deductions from the workforce. Additionally, the carrier handles all the claims, redundant paperwork and customer service related to the plan.
Differences between Pre-Paid and Legal Plans
It is not uncommon to see the terms “legal plans” and “pre-paid legal services” used interchangeably. While they share a lot of characteristics in common, there are a number of differences you should be aware of.
Both of these terms refer to an arrangement whereby you pay a fixed monthly or yearly fee in exchange for legal services. The idea behind them is to save consumers on high legal fees whilst offering a valuable service. That’s where the differences lie: what kind of service is offered and what is covered.
What are you entitled to in both schemes?
Pre-paid services cover for specific legal services: free phone consultation and advice, drafting of simple wills and trusts, review of sample contracts and writing of letters on your behalf. Legal services not provided will get charged at regular attorney fees, but you may be eligible for discounts.
Legal insurance, by contrast, works much like other insurance plans, like health or car insurance. Although specific legal services are offered at times, your insurance provider will typically offer a policy that covers for all legal services. The policy will pay on behalf of you, the policy holder, or reimburse all expenses, costs or fees that you pay for legal services up to the policy limit. For instance, your policy might reimburse
any fees incurred in your court judgments or pay your bail money – a service not provided by most pre-paid legal plans.
any fees incurred in your court judgments or pay your bail money – a service not provided by most pre-paid legal plans.
Comprehensive access plans
If you are a member of a pre-paid access plan and are not getting the legal services you think you need, then it is probably time to upgrade to a more comprehensive plan.
A comprehensive prepaid legal service plan is designed to cover for the majority of your legal service needs in a given year. Access services, such as legal advice and information by toll-free number and follow-up service, are provided at no cost to you. It’s in the realm of more complex legal matters that require more time and effort from your attorney, that the comprehensive plan is more beneficial than a basic, access plan. You can have your trust set up, instead of a simple will, and a more complicated
business sale contract drawn up as opposed to a simple contract. Legal representation can equally be provided in court for some cases, such as child custody.
Comprehensive prepaid plans are most suitable for people who need business advice, have family trusts or own real estates properties.
Pre-paid legal services for small business
If you are operating your own business, you cannot afford to go it alone when it comes to legal matters. The ever increasing complexities of law, spiralling costs of lawsuits and the proliferation of government red tape can land you in a lot of trouble.
The flip of the coin is hardly attractive either! Hiring a lawyer can constitute a substantial financial investment many cash-strapped small businesses and entrepreneurs cannot sustain. Lawyers charge a minimum of $200 per hour when it comes to “business law” and it can get very costly if you are involved in lengthy legal procedures, complicated
contracts or business transactions.
There may just be a glitter of hope in pre-paid legal plans. For a set monthly price, some legal providers are now bundling a whole suite of legal services especially tailored to the needs of small-businesses. Whether you need phone consultation on the legal complexities of a lease contract, or require legal representation during tax audits, a pre-paid plan can help you manage legal costs. An array of services is included as
“standard coverage” at no cost to you in the plan, and any legal matters not covered can be provided with a discount on fees.
Before you take the leap, you need to keep some caveats in mind.
You need to know more about the quality of service you are likely to get. While lower fees do not necessarily infer lower quality of work, it is always necessary to bear in mind that legal specialization plays a crucial part and lawyers are not interchangeable. Ask for references from previous clients or ask entrepreneurs who’ve used the services of the provider about the quality of work they have received from them. Use your state bar association, service organizations in your locale and your local Better Business Bureau to research law firms and the background of the attorneys in the network before selecting them. Things to look for are the number of years they have been operating, complaints from previous customers, the education background of attorneys, professional track record and so forth. With the increasing amount of small businesses involved in litigation and fee disputes with their legal providers, I iss important to give some thought to alternative courses of actions when dealing with disputes. Ask your prospective provider about the way in which they settle disputes or complaints. Do they have an in-house procedure to deal with complaints, appoint a senior attorney to deal with such things or do you simply have to
settle out of court ?
Benefits of Pre-paid legal plan for your company
Employers are on the hunt - researching benefit tools that are low-cost, easily administered and satisfy their employees’ needs. One such tool is pre-paid group insurance. We examine the benefits of having such a work-benefit option from an employer’s perspective.
The first benefit employers expect from legal insurance plans is increased productivity and efficiency. Today’s employees are interested in a variety of benefits to balance their work with their life requirements. Given that most American household had an issue with law last year that might have led them to hire a lawyer, it’s only normal that a legal benefit would increase employees’ morale and efficiency.
Having legal benefit as part of a work-benefit package can help the company recruit and retain the best employees. In this age of work-benefit hysteria, many prospective employment candidates base their career choices on the set of benefit package provided by employers.
Cost containment is another benefit. With less time and resources to be used for personal matters, the company expects to make significant savings on administrative costs.
