“The beauty of it was, with two 15-minute phone calls, we were able to solve a problem we didn’t know how to solve,” Healy says. “When my mother-in-law needed to go into a home-health care situation, we received professional direction on the situation very quickly and it greatly reduced my family’s stress. Having quick access to experts who could help was really liberating.”

Popular choice
Legal insurance plans are growing in popularity, and for good reason. “Employees are suffering legal problems more than ever,” explains Robert Heston Jr., president and CEO of Legal Access Plans, LLC, and The LegalEASE Group. “These come in all shapes and sizes—divorce, child custody battles, parental kidnappings, bankruptcy, foreclosures, arrests, juvenile court, domestic violence, will contests, neighbor disputes and more.”
The plans offer a range of attorney services and online resources and often are purchased via workplace payroll deduction. “When people encounter a legal situation, they rarely know who to talk to—they don’t have an attorney and don’t know who to call,” explains Healy. “A legal insurance plan can connect them with an expert on the situation they’re dealing with and can provide a fast-track to help.”

Heston points out that legal insurance plans cover both free consultations and paid-in-full or paid-in-part benefits and cover the costs of resolving legal problems. “Other legal plans, called discount or access plans, can cover some problems at no charge,” he adds, “but any legal problems that are protracted or serious in nature are usually only covered at a discounted rate, leaving the employee to pay for most of the fees out of pocket.”

“When an employee covered by our legal insurance plan needs an attorney, they simply call us up and we listen and get an understanding of what they’re trying to solve,” Healy explains. “Then we direct them to the right resource. That could involve an in-office visit with an attorney, a phone consultation, or access to a do-it-yourself document you can use to solve the problem quickly. The goal is to serve the client in any of a variety of different ways.”

Healy points out that self-service online legal access is becoming increasingly popular. “More and more people are very comfortable using online resources,” he notes. “Others prefer to do things themselves and then have it reviewed.” Many, he adds, still prefer to talk to an attorney, in person or on the phone. “We work with members when and how they want,” Healy says.

Helping employers and staff
“A real problem is when employees’ major stressful legal and financial problems become the employer’s problem, too,” says Heston.

Healy concurs, noting that a study his firm commissioned says more than 55% of employees who experienced a legal issue reported that it impacted their productivity at work.

“Legal insurance plans can ease stress on employees snared in legal disputes, but those plans must have a comprehensive infrastructure,” Heston explains. “Good legal plans contain a matrix of services for workers involved in the court system. Legal plans without infrastructure can be empty shells.”

Healy says agents and brokers can help deliver these plans—and the relief that comes with them. “We work with brokers and consultant firms, because they have relationships with employers,” he says. “We explain how our legal plan works and they share it with their clients and prospects.

“Agents and brokers can share the value and how the plans can help with wellness—financial and physical—by reducing stress,” he adds. “In a recent survey, 87% of our members say our legal plans reduced their stress. Access to good legal counsel also can reduce the amount of time employees spend dealing with these issues at work.”

Heston also encourages agents and brokers to emphasize the value that plans bring to employers. “Employee legal-related stress can also increase mistakes, accidents and injuries,” he says. “When an employee has a major stressful legal or financial problem, it becomes the employer’s problem.

“There’s not much that affects a worker’s morale and stress level more than being unexpectedly cast into the legal system,” he adds. “And there is not always comprehension about how such problems contribute to negative attitudes and performance on the job.”

Heston points out that legal insurance plans can even help address employee issues that human resources may not be aware of. “There may be more to employee absence, lack of productivity, accidents and injuries, and increased prescription and medical plan usage than is obvious to HR managers,” he explains. “Often, given the private nature of financial and legal problems, employees may not be revealing the true nature of many of their most serious problems.”

Getting on board
According to Heston, many insurance agents and brokers are finding substantial sales success when they approach client companies by downplaying their core-insurance product focus and use the approach that they are a legal plan expert with the experience to consult on the need for a legal plan for employees.

“By selling legal along with a core product, and given the usually higher commission rates currently available on many legal plans, agents and brokers might earn a substantial additional commission with little attention being directed away from core product sales,” he explains. “Some legal plans have developed substantial education programs that can help agents understand how to earn significant additional commissions without cutting core sales.”

Healy says, “How it typically works is we will build a package, often offering the employer the choice of two plans—First is a comprehensive legal insurance program that covers most things you’d expect a lawyer to handle. The other plan bundles other protection on top of that, such as identity theft, financial counseling with debt remediation, and even caregiver services, which helps identify reputable home health providers.” The employer could offer both plans and let the employee decide or just offer the stand-alone comprehensive legal insurance program.

“Most producers simply have never been taught the direct connection between legal plans and core insurance products,” Heston notes. “For example, the ‘simple-wills’ portion of many legal plans can be used to raise the issue of preparing for the future. The need for a will supports a discussion of the need for life insurance, so the legal plan actually can be used to sell more life insurance.”

He also points out that many employees are worried about keeping the assets they have accumulated. “If an employee is injured,” he says, “the disability policy pays medical bills and some monthly income. But some things aren’t covered, like ancillary legal problems with medical bills, eviction issues or even a third-party lawsuit claiming the employee caused damage where he or she was injured. Legal fees can end up defeating the entire reason for having the disability policy.”

According to Heston, commission structures and producer compensation can vary widely. “Many plans offer very attractive compensation programs,” he explains. “A plan might offer up to 35% level commission, so a large group with good penetration could yield $20,000 a year or more.”

As important—perhaps more so—are the relationship benefits. “Agents and brokers can add value to and deepen their relationship with the employer,” explains Healy. “That is probably the strongest value proposition. It can be a good part of an overall financial wellness program for an employer group.”

Making the sale
Heston points out that, in today’s voluntary marketplace, many human resources managers or business owners don’t know that insurance agents and brokers are primary sellers of legal plans in the workplace. “Many agents and brokers don’t push legal plan sales or even mention the products they have access to unless they’re asked,” he explains.

That can be problematic. “What it does is open the producer up to competition from someone who may use the legal plan as a hook,” Heston notes. “Our company estimates that more than 60% of legal plan worksite sales are made by someone other than the client firm’s main insurance agent or broker.”

“It doesn’t cost anything for the employer to install,” Healy says. “The agent or broker can implement it with an employer relatively easily, because we have salespeople and client management teams that do all the work to install it.”

Once implemented, the plans are very well received. “It’s an easy program to add when there’s already an employer relationship,” he notes. “Employers tend to be very, very happy with the service. I’ve had brokers say that, dollar for dollar, legal insurance plans provide more value than any other voluntary benefit they offer.”

Healy says, “We can offer plans for companies with as few as 250 eligible employees. All an agent needs to do is connect with one of our group legal sales representatives. They can explain opportunities and help agents introduce it where they already have relationships.”

He says legal insurance plans fit well in a whole range of employer groups—ranging from school systems, municipalities and state governments to manufacturers, service operations and others. “People don’t need a lot of money to afford it,” Healy notes, “and legal issues don’t discriminate based on economic wherewithal. Wherever we offer the plans, employees understand that their employer is trying to take care of them, so they take advantage of it.”

Heston says some agents are reluctant to sell the plans. “Some agents say, ‘This sounds good, but none of my clients’ employees will buy a legal plan. They are tapped out,’ or ‘If I sell a legal plan, the employee won’t have money to purchase my core products,’” he explains.

To them, he responds, “Who wouldn’t pay $16 a month, right now, if they knew they could use consultations and budget analysis to reduce their credit card bills and get on a payment plan that saves them hundreds of dollars a year in debt expense?” or “Who wouldn’t pay $16 a month, right now, if they knew they could negotiate, along with a local experienced lawyer, a reduction in their mortgage payment of several hundred dollars per month?”

For more information:

ARAG Group
www.araggroup.com

Legal Access Plans, LLC, and The LegalEASE Group
www.legalaccessplans.com