LegalShield: Difference between revisions

LegalShield
	LegalShield Logo
Founded	1972
Founder	Harland Stonecipher
Headquarters	Ada, Oklahoma, United States
Area served	United States, Canada
Key people	Rip Mason (CEO)
Products	Pre-paid Attorney, Legal services
Services	Legal services, Identity theft restoration
Revenue	$461 million
Owner	MidOcean Partners
Number of employees	813
Divisions	Kroll Inc.
Website	http://www.legalshield.com/

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Revision as of 10:57, 22 January 2014

LegalShield is an American corporation that sells legal service products through multi-level marketing in the United States and Canada. The company was originally founded August 8, 1972 as the Sportsman's Motor Club. In 1976 it was incorporated as Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc., and made its initial public offering in 1984. Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc. was acquired by MidOcean Partners in 2011 and changed its name to LegalShield.

Company description

LegalShield develops and markets pre-paid legal service plans through a network of more than 50 independent provider law firms across the U.S. and Canada. The Company also markets an identity theft monitoring and restoration services through its partnership with Kroll Inc..^[1] The company's service plans are sold through multi-level marketing.^[2] Products are also sold as an employee benefit through payroll deduction. The company has legal service plans for small businesses as well advertised with NFL Hall of Fame player Fran Tarkenton as spokesman.

Subsidiaries

Today, LegalShield has its headquarters in Ada, Oklahoma. The company owns several subsidiaries. Pre-Paid Legal Casualty, Inc. operates in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Montana, Nebraska, Tennessee, & Wisconsin. There are three subsidiaries that serve individual states: Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc. of Florida, National Pre-Paid Legal Services of Mississippi, Inc. and Legal Service Plans of Virginia, Inc. The primary purpose of these subsidiaries is to comply with different insurance laws in those states; they consider the product to be an insurance product, while the other U.S. states consider legal service plans to be a service product. PPL Legal Care of Canada Corporation operates in the country of Canada.

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External links

^ "Pre-Paid Legal Services to Add Identity Theft Benefits Provided by Kroll Background America". kroll.com. Kroll Inc. Retrieved March 7, 2010.
^ "Pre-paid legal services: Worth the money?". cbc.ca.

[1] "Pre-Paid Legal Services to Add Identity Theft Benefits Provided by Kroll Background America". kroll.com. Kroll Inc. Retrieved March 7, 2010.

[2] "Pre-paid legal services: Worth the money?". cbc.ca.

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 Today, LegalShield has its headquarters in [[Ada, Oklahoma]].  The company owns several subsidiaries.  Pre-Paid Legal Casualty, Inc. operates in [[Alabama]], [[Arizona]], [[Arkansas]], [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]], [[Illinois]], [[Montana]], [[Nebraska]], [[Tennessee]], & [[Wisconsin]]. There are three subsidiaries that serve individual states: Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc. of Florida, National Pre-Paid Legal Services of Mississippi, Inc. and Legal Service Plans of Virginia, Inc. The primary purpose of these subsidiaries is to comply with different insurance laws in those states; they consider the product to be an [[insurance]] product, while the other U.S. states consider legal service plans to be a [[service (economics)|service]] product. PPL Legal Care of Canada Corporation operates in the country of [[Canada]].
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-==History==
-[[File:LegalShield Building in Ada Oklahoma.jpg|thumb|left|250px|LegalShield Headquarters]]
-On July 11, 1969, former CEO and founder Harland C. Stonecipher of Ada, Oklahoma was involved in a motor vehicle accident and was hospitalized. Although the other party was cited for fault, they filed a suit against him for the accident.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.prepaidlegal.com/newCorp2/press_room/executive_bios.html   |title=Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc. &#124; Executive Bios |publisher=prepaidlegal.com |accessdate=March 7, 2010}}</ref> He hired a lawyer to defend himself in court, but in doing so, depleted his life savings. After researching the industry of European legal expense plans, Stonecipher created Pre-Paid Legal's predecessor, The Sportsman’s Motor Club, on August 8, 1972. The club offered legal expense reimbursement to its members. Pre-Paid Legal began utilizing "network marketing" (multi-level marketing or MLM) in 1983. Pre-Paid Legal went public on the [[NASDAQ]] National Market System in 1984.  Two years later, the company moved to the [[American Stock Exchange]] and then on May 13, 1999, Pre-Paid Legal was listed on the [[New York Stock Exchange]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.prepaidlegal.com/newCorp2/about_us/70-79.html |title=Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc. &#124; The Pre-Paid Legal Story |publisher=prepaidlegal.com |accessdate=March 7, 2010}}</ref>
-In 2001, the Wyoming Attorney General issued a press release announcing "When we discovered that Pre-Paid was using prohibited income representations to promote their multilevel marketing program, we warned them that the representations were prohibited by Wyoming law". Pre-Paid paid [[United States dollar|$]]4,000 in lieu of civil penalties, reimbursed the state for $1,000 in costs, and refunded $2,000 to participants who claimed to have been misled.<ref>{{cite news |url= http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4188/is_20081030/ai_n30951143  |title=Shurtleff's Fundraising Trounces Hill's &#124; Deseret News (Salt Lake City) Newspaper &#124; Find Articles at BNET |publisher=FindArticles.com |date=October 30, 2008 |accessdate=October 23, 2009 |first=Bob, Jr. |last=Bernick}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= http://attorneygeneral.state.wy.us/CPU1PR113001.pdf |title=Newell letter |format=PDF |date= |accessdate=October 23, 2009}}</ref> In July the same year, the company was forced by the U.S. [[Securities and Exchange Commission]] (SEC) to stop counting the commissions they paid out to sales associates as [[asset]]s, instead of [[expense]]s,<ref name="TheStreet1">"[http://www.thestreet.com/story/10209942/pre-paid-weathers-guilty-verdict.html Pre-Paid Weathers Guilty Verdict]", ''TheStreet.com''</ref> the same way other types of insurance companies do, though they did not release their updated, halved, 2000 earnings figures until February 2002.<ref>{{cite news |url= http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F70A11FC3C5E0C7B8DDDAD0894DB404482 |work=[[New York Times]] |first=Gretchen |last=Morgenson | title=Exchange to Warn Investors on Companies |date=April 18, 2003}}</ref>
-Pre-Paid Legal has faced ongoing troubles in Missouri. After the company settled complaints in 2001, a number of similar suits arose. The company won in a jury trial against two plaintiffs,<ref name="TheStreet2">{{cite web |first=Melissa |last=Davis |url= http://www.thestreet.com/_yahoo/stocks/melissadavid/10189148.html |title=Pre-Paid Prevails in Mississippi Case; Financial Articles & Investing News |work=TheStreet.com |date=October 20, 2004  |accessdate=October 23, 2009}}</ref> but after losing others, including one in which a former customer was awarded $9.9 million<ref name="TheStreet1" /><ref name="TheStreet3">"[http://www.thestreet.com/story/10253221/verdict-hammers-pre-paid.html Verdict Hammers Pre-Paid], ''TheStreet.com''</ref> settled with more than 400 others. The company, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce of which Pre-Paid Legal CEO Harland Stonecipher is a director,<ref name="USChamber1">{{cite web|url=http://www.uschamber.com/press/releases/2005/june/05-109.htm |title=U.S. Chamber of Commerce - June 27 - U.S Chamber Reappoints Harland Stonecipher, CEO of Pre-Paid Legal Services, to Board of Directors |work=USChamber.com |publisher=U.S. Chamber of Commerce |date=June 27, 2005 |accessdate=October 23, 2009}}</ref> have described the lawsuits against the company as "frivolous" and "abusive".<ref name="USChamber2">{{cite web |url=http://www.uschamber.com/press/releases/2004/november/04-152.htm |title=U.S. Chamber of Commerce - Nov 24 - Chamber Joins Miss. Case against Frivolous Lawsuits - Pre-Paid Legal Services Targeted Improperly |work=USChamber.com |date=November 24, 2004 |accessdate=October 23, 2009}}</ref>
-Pre-Paid Legal reported to the SEC that less than 25% of its sales representatives sold more than one insurance plan in 2005, but avoids reporting such information to prospective sales representatives.<ref name="crashparty">{{cite news |url= http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/13/business/13short.html |title=Why Short Sellers Want to Crash the Tupperware Party |last=Duhigg |first=Charles |date=November 13, 2006 |work=New York Times|accessdate=October 14, 2009}}</ref>
-In October 2009, ''[[Tulsa World]]'' reported<ref name="TulsaWorld1">{{cite web|url=http://www.tulsaworld.com/business/article.aspx?subjectid=46&articleid=20091007_46_E1_PrePai498116 |title=SEC asks Pre-Paid Legal for documents |work=Tulsa World |date= |accessdate=October 23, 2009}}</ref> that Pre-Paid Legal had been subpoenaed by the SEC for various documents including those pertaining to a stock repurchase program that Pre-Paid started in April 1999. (And in 2006, the company said it would repurchase $27.4 million of shares owned by executives.)<ref  name=crashparty/> The SEC reported that thus far that its demand for documents is a "fact finding" mission.
-On November 19, 2009, Pre-Paid Legal announced<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/pre-paid-legal-services-announces-ftc-developments-70524402.html |title=Pre-Paid Legal Services Announces FTC Developments |publisher=Pre-Paid Legal Services |date= |accessdate=November 19, 2009}}</ref> that it received a complaint from the [[Federal Trade Commission]] (FTC).  The proposed draft complaint alleged that Pre-Paid's "ADRS program and related materials violate Section 5(a) of the FTC Act regarding asserted misleading representations, express or implied."<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.streetinsider.com/Corporate+News/Pre-Paid+Legal+%28PPD%29+Received+Draft+Complaint+from+FTC+Relating+to+ITSADRS+Program/5127084.html |title=Pre-Paid Legal (PPD) Received Draft Complaint from FTC Relating to ITSADRS Program |work=StreetInsider.com |date=November 11, 2009 |accessdate=September 26, 2010}}</ref> On July 27, 2010 the FTC ended its three-year investigation of Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc. without any action.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://newsok.com/ftc-ends-investigation-of-pre-paid-legal/article/3479952|title=FTC ends investigation of Pre-Paid Legal|date=July 27, 2010|accessdate=July 28, 2011}}</ref>
-''Forbes'' magazine again in November 2010 ranked Pre-Paid Legal Services as number 78 out of the 100 best companies in America. {{Citation Needed|date=December 2013}}
-In January 2011, Pre-Paid Legal agreed to merge with entities formed by [[MidOcean Partners]], a private equity firm headquartered in New York which it says is "focused on the middle market."  The transaction would result in the company becoming privately held.  The deal closed on June 31, 2011.<ref name="TulsaWorld2">{{cite news |first=Laurie |last=Winslow |url= http://www.tulsaworld.com/business/article.aspx?subjectid=46&articleid=20110201_46_E1_PrePai192609 |title=Pre-Paid to Merge with MidOcean |work=Tulsa World |date=February 1, 2011}}.</ref>
-On September 10, 2011, the company announced <ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/pre-paid-legal-services-becomes-legalshieldsm-129584673.html |title=Pre-Paid Legal Services Becomes LegalShield |publisher=Pre-Paid Legal Services |date= |accessdate=September 22, 2011}}</ref> that it would change its name to LegalShield. The new corporate name for the 40 year old company was said by the company to be part of an overall re-branding initiative following the acquisition of Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc. by MidOcean Partners.
-Rëferrałłß
 ==External links==