There has been a lot of talk about changes to the way legal services are delivered. There are all kinds of wild predictions and discussions about self help centers, paralegals, and prepaid legal services. The concept of prepaying for legal services is not new. In fact the retainer is a form of prepaid legal services. The retainer was used to insure a particular attorney’s availability. The retainer means different things, but in most cases it just means an advance for services to be performed.

Prepaid legal services are provided through several insurance companies and at least one large provider that was no in the insurance industry. The idea of prepaid legal services is that consumers would be able to insure against future legal expenses by paying a monthly premium in reality this is not what is happening. Some prepaid legal services are doing nothing more than negotiating rates with attorneys and law firms. When the prepaid legal customer needs legal services the extent of the services is a consultation with attorney for about 15 minutes to one hour. Then the consumer discovers that there is no attorney available within a 300 mile radius to provide the services. The reason no services are available is because most law firms and attorneys are unwilling to provide services pursuant to the terms of the prepaid legal organization contracting the attorneys. The first consultation is generally free, but anything beyond the initial consultation is not covered by the prepaid legal services program. The additional cost for legal representation is born by the consumer. The advantage to having such a service is that additional services are discounted. The attorney or law firm charges less for services as agreed with the prepaid legal services organization that sold you the plan. Sometimes the rates is very low and seems very reasonable, but the problem is that the attorney is likely to be very new to the practice of law and the quality of the services and the hours billed will eliminate or reduce any advantage gained by obtaining a reduced rate.

Some plans are not sold by the organization to consumers by rather to various insurance carriers and big businesses. These insurance carriers are generally health insurance carriers. The prepaid legal program is not really prepaid as the consumer usually pays nothing. These are probably the best plans available to employees. The attorney is usually better compensated, but still charges a reduced rate. The insurance carriers are well know well established insurance carriers and provide much better screened attorneys often top trial lawyers instead of first year associates. These plans are not plans purchased by consumers, but instead plans available to employees as a benefit through their employers. Some employees have such a benefit are not even aware of it. Normally the benefits are not discovered until the employees speak with someone in their employee assistance department or someone else in human resources.

The benefit to the employee is that these attorneys have been screened and going to provide competent services. After the initial consultation and subsequent representation there is often a follow up to determine if the customer is satisfied with the quality of representation of the attorney. The same is not true of prepaid legal services sold by less established and fly by night prepaid legal services organizations.

Initially the intent may have been to provide prepaid legal services as an insurance policy, but what has actually occurred is that pre screened attorney services at some discounted rate is provided by some insurance carriers and some other less reputable providers provide mediocre and inexperienced attorneys at discounted rates.

Author Bio: Free consultation with an attorney at Orange County Attorney

Category: Legal
Keywords: attorney, lawyer