Does LegalShield Work? I Lay It All Bare!

You found this blog post because you were either looking for affordable legal services or an opportunity for a unique MLM based business. Regardless, you’re probably asking yourself this critical question. Does LegalShield Work?

First, let me show you a brief video about the Mission of LegalShield originating from its founder, Harland Stonecipher. Click the picture below.

Background Information

The story of LegalShield is worth relating. Harland Stonecipher was involved in a serious auto accident in 1969. Although the other party was at fault, they sued him.

Mr. Stonecipher had to hire a lawyer to fight his case that he eventually won. However, it was very costly for him. There was no such thing as legal insurance at that time.

Harland created a company in 1972 that offered members, “legal expense reimbursement services”. The company adopted the name PrePaid Legal in 1976. It was the first company in the US to provide prepaid legal services to people. In 1984, it got listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

When Mid Ocean Partners acquired it in 2011 for $650 Million, its name was changed to LegalShield and it was made private again. Harland Stonecipher retired from the company at that time, and passed away in 2014.

The current CEO is Jeff Bell who has served in senior executive roles in Ford, Chrysler, Microsoft and NBC Universal.

Most notably, Jeff led the marketing efforts on Windows games and the XBox. He was responsible for making XBox profitable and boosting sales significantly. In 2014, he was appointed CEO of LegalShield.

Jeff Bell gave a speech on 2017 that is so appropriate today in June 2020, The citizens of the US are crying out for equal justice under the law for everyone. His message then, that holds true today, was how LegalShield empowers people to have access to affordable Legal services to make sure we have equal justice under the law.

He also spoke on Facebook about how LegalShied is disrupting the legal services business by putting a Law Firm in the palm of your hand via a smartphone app.

LegalShield has the power to level that playing field by providing affordable legal services that had only been available for the wealthy.

Even so, is LegalShield able to pull off this tall order? Read on to find out.

Basis For This Review

This LegalShield review will lay bare the workings of this company to help answer the question in the title. We will be going through the following areas in detail.

1. LegalShield Company Website
2. The Service Plans and how to enroll
   
3. How to sign up as a LegalShield Associate
4. How the Associates Earn Money
5. Create Wealth From Selling Subscriptions Only
6. Pros & Cons
7. My Recommendations

LegalShield The Company

• Founded in 1972 by Harland Stonecipher, Originally called PrePaid Legal
• Headquarters in Ada, Oklahoma
• In 2011 PrePaid Legal was acquired by Mid Ocean Partners for $650 Million.
• Name changed to LegalShield, all one word
• Current CEO is Jeff Bell, a prior executive from Microsoft
• LegalShield offers prepaid legal service plans as well as Identity Theft Plans
• Plans are sold through a network of Associates using the Multi Level Marketing (MLM) model
• Operates in the US, Canada and the UK
• 1.7 million members in the US and
• Website: https://www.legalshield.com

The Service Plans

LegalShield offers legal plans for a wide range of needs. The chances are you are sure to find one or more plans suitable for you situation.

Besides offering Legal Service Plans, LegalShield also offers an Identity Theft Protection Program through IDShield. I will go into more detail about IDShield in my next blog post since this is a big enough topic to justify its own space.

Go to this link for details about the legal service plans. I provide an overview below.

Family Service Plan – $24.95 Monthly

This plan applies to the

• Plan member,
• The member’s spouse,
• Never-married dependent children of the member or member’s spouse, under 26 years of age who are permanent residents of the member’s household or full-time students
• Dependent children under-age 18 for whom the member or member’s spouse is legal guardian
• Any dependent child, regardless of age, who is physically disabled or mentally incapacitated and unable to make legally binding decisions, unable to be employed, 51% or more financially dependent upon the member and member’s spouse and lives at home with the member or member’s spouse.

Your Personal/Family Legal Plan Includes:

• Unlimited Consulting
• Speeding Ticket Assistance
• Demand Letters & Phone Calls
• 24/7 Emergency Assistance
• Unlimited Contract Review (Up to 15 pages each)
• Will, Living Will & Power of Attorney
• Uncontested Adoption Representation
• Durable Power of Attorney
• Trial Defense Services
• Uncontested Divorce or Separation
• Uncontested Name Change
• IRS Audit Legal Services
• Residential Loan Document Assistance
• Collections,
• Warranties, and Guaranties

You can download a PDF file with more details here. LegalShield Legal Service Plan

Small Business Plans

LegalShield offers three levels of small business plans that have Employees of equal or less than the following.

There is no enrollment fee required for any of these plans.

You can download the details in PDF format by clicking the links below. An overview is presented after the price summary.

• LegalShield Small Business Plan 10 or fewer Employees – $39.00 / month
• LegalShield Business Plan 50 or fewer Employees – $89.00 / month
• LegalShield Small Business Plan 100 or fewer Employees – $149.00 / month
  

They all have various amounts of the following services:

• Legal consultation on any matter
• Attorney phone calls and letters
• Contractual documents and legal reviews
• Debt Collection Letters
• Designated consultation on matters specific to one’s business

Commercial Driver Plans

If you are a commercial driver then the following plans may be of interest to you. Details in PDF format can be downloaded by clicking the links embedded in the titles below.

LegalShield Regular Commercial Driver Plan – $32.95 / month

• Covers member & spouse
• Traffic Accident Representation
• Moving Violations Defense
• Defense of non-moving violations including:Logbook & Inspections
• Overweight, length, Hazmat violations and Spills

Super Commercial Drivers Legal Plan – $44.95 / month

• Everything as in the Regular Commercial Drivers Legal Plan PLUS
• Expanded non-criminal DOT and non-Moving Violation defense
• Expanded Licenses reinstatement assistance
• Will preparation service
• IRS Audit Legal Services

You will need to find a LegalShield Associate from whom you can purchase any of the above plans either through their business website or by connecting with them and filling our the applications manually.

LegalShield helps you to find an Associate near you through this website link: Find An Associate Here. Scroll down to the red bar where you will see Find An Associate on it. Click that and enter your zip code. Contact information about a LegalShield Associate near you will be provided in response.

I suggest you read what is offered again and let me know in the comments section below if you think these services are good value for money. I’ll give you my opinion and recommendations later.

Identity Theft Protection

LegalShield also offers Identity Theft Protection under the name IDShield.

Comprehensive identity theft monitoring and full service identity restoration services with $1M of identity theft insurance coverage.

Individual Plan – 1 Bureau $12.95 / month. 3 Bureau $17.95

Family Plan – $24.95 / month

Since Identity Theft has become a critical issue today, Since Identity Theft has become such a hot topic over the last 10 years, I shall be writing a review of IDShield in my next post. Stay tuned!

In the meantime you can check out details of the IDShield Plan here.

Total Family Protection – $49.90 / Month

LegalShield offers a total family package of Legal Protection and Identity Theft Protection for $49.90 a month. Check out this brief video that summarizes these benefits:

How To Become A LegalShield Associate

Since LegalShield uses the MLM business model, you will need to find an Associate to sigh up as one yourself. If you need help to find an Associate near you, LegalShield will help you through their website:

The current one time application fee is $99.00

How Associates Earn Money

Here is a summary of 5 ways an associate can earn money in LegalShield

1. Commission for each member enrolled
2. When associates join your team and enroll members you get paid overrides
3. Earn residual income every time the members you or your team enrolled, renew
4. Earn bonuses from the Performance Club Bonus Program
5. Earn monthly incentive bonuses

Compensation Plan Details

For the purposes of this discussion I am going to use the $49.90 family plan for LegalShield and IDShield to compute the numbers.

Whenever an associate makes a single family subscription sale of $49.90 a month they earn the following commission based on their rank. The higher their rank, the higher their commission. In addition, ranks higher than Associate also earn overrides from their team member sales. Just like their own sales, this amount is related to their rank. See the table below for details:

If you’re wondering how can the commissions exceed $49.90? In case you haven’t figured this out, the commission is based on 12 months subscription collected. Hence, the associate gets paid in advance for subscriptions yet to be collected.

This means of a member opts out of the program, the associate will owe back some money. LegalShield collects this from future earnings. Hence, no bill is sent to the associate.

It is clear that any associate must have a goal to rise up in the ranks to benefit from the higher incomes shown. To rise in rank, an associate must meet the benchmarks below.

Senior Associate

Make 3 personal sales and recruit one Associate who also subscribes to a monthly membership plan

OR by having 6 personal sales in total.

Manager

Recruit 3 active Associates and have 15 organizational sales

OR have 15 personal sales

Senior Manager

Create a team with 3 Senior Associates and 50 organizational sales

OR have 50 personal sales

Director

Create a team with 3 Manager legs directly under you and 100 organizational sales

OR have 100 personal sales

This is where the advancement stops by only making personal sales

Senior Director

Maintain qualification for Director and have 25 sales in one month including personal sales with no more than 15 from any single leg. Must also be Performance Club qualified.

Executive Director

Maintain Director qualified and have 50 sales that can be a combination of personal and organizational, with no more than 20 from any single leg. Plus, qualify for the Activity Requirement.

It may seem odd that there are restriction on the maximum number of sales in anyone leg. Actually, there can be more than the specified sales in those legs. But the excess will not be counted in qualifying for advancement. The reason for these limits is to prevent advancement where one leg only does all the work.

Create Wealth From Selling Subscriptions Only

What if you liked the LegalShield program and decided this could be a way for you to earn some extra money. The only issue for you is recruiting family and friends into your team. You much rather not do that.

Is it possible to earn a significant income without having to recruit? You can.

I’d like to show you how it is possible to do just that. It all comes down to being able to sell a boat load of plans.

the big question is how is it possible to reach out to thousands of potential customers all on your own?. Clearly, you just do not have sufficient hours in a day to talk to hundreds of people so that you can enroll the number you need.

You need to leverage the power of the Internet! This means creating a website where you use organic strategies to attract traffic to your LegalShield authorized website. That is where your sales transactions occur.

Here is a document called Advertising_Guidelines__10.26.18_ within which you will find what the rules are to market the LegalShield Products and Business Program.

You may need to get approval from LegalShield if you want to create your own advertising literature. LegalShield highly recommends you use the materials they have created. In this way you will not be in danger of violating any laws.

Basically, if you go it alone and fall foul of Local, State and Federal laws, you are on your own. You cannot hold LegalShield liable. That is only fair. Right?

The best way to avoid getting into these situations is to NEVER make false claims about anything related to the LegalShield Business. Let’s proceed with the good stuff I promised you.

Pathway To A 6-Figure Annual Income

I’d like you to review the earnings based on rank as shown in the table below. When only ONE subscription of $49.90 a month is sold, the income earned for each of the ranks ranges from $60 for an Associate to $190 for a Director, all the way to $280 for an Executive Director.

Note that LegalShield enables an associate to rise up to the level of Director either from recruiting or making personal sales. The requirements are shown in the ranking details above.

Unfortunately after the rank of Director it is not possible to advance through sales alone. For this reason, I will use the position of Director to show how one can earn a 6-Figure annual income through sales alone.

Aim For Director

When an associate wishes to use the Internet to generate sales,  their first goal should be to sell 10 family plans at $49,90 each, to qualify for the rank of Director. Once this level is earned, for every $49.90 family plan sold, the associate will earn a commission of $190.00. How you use your website to achieve these sales will be discussed in the next section.

Hence, if 11 plans are sold each week, a total commission of $2090 will be earned. For 52 weeks this will result in an annual income of $108,680. A 6-Figure income!

Will you be able to sell 11 plans a week? It will depend on how good a job you do with your website and traffic conversions. This process is not a get-rich-quick scheme. However, there are countless successful affiliate marketers who earn a 6-figure income. It takes them a few years to do this. Once in place, the income is residual.

Every time a member renews his subscription, the associate gets paid a commission.

Ask yourself how long would it take you to build your MLM business the traditional way to provide you with a 6-figure income? How many associates do you know who are earning a 6-figure income?

Rather than wondering, let’s get into the actions you need to take to harness the Internet to make sales to create that income.

Harness The Internet To Achieve These Sales

You must be wondering how is it possible to use the Internet to achieve these sales. The business model I am going to tell you about is related to Affiliate Marketing.

I have written several blog posts about affiliate marketing on this website. Here is one that is worth checking out:

How To Make Money Online Using A Computer!

I’d like to summarize this process. One of the first things an affiliate marketer does is to select a niche they are passionate about to use as the basis for their business. Since you are already an associate of LegalShield, or considering becoming one, you have a ready-made niche.

Your primary focus shout NOT be in selling LegalShield subscriptions. It should be in providing an avenue to get legal help when they need it without having to pay a lawyer $250 or more per hour.

Affiliate marketers, unlike salespeople, study the problems people have that can be solved using the products or services in their niche. They create hundreds of posts on their website where each post addresses a specific problem and show how their product or service does an exceptional job in providing the solution they seek.

When a visitor to your blog post feels you understand their problem and genuinely want to help them, you build empathy and trust. Hence, they are more inclined to click that link on your article that will take them to the company that sells the product.

When they make a purchase, the company will collect their money, deliver the product, and pay you your commission.

LegalShield works in the same way. Except, when your visitor clicks that link, they will go to your LegalShield sign up page.

This is your very own sales page that is managed by LegalShield. When they fill in their application, pay their subscription, you get the credit. LegalShield will then credit your account with the commission.

You accomplish this as follows:

1. Create your blogging website
2. Write articles, each on one specific legal problem people face and how LegalShield provides the solution with a plan.
3. Promote your article so that when people searching for solutions, they find your article and purchase a plan

That’s it. The concept is very simple. In order to be effective, you have to learn the skills of how to structure your website to attract visitors (traffic) and write helpful articles to make a sale.

Focus on the pain of the problem. Then state that by talking to a LegalShield appointed lawyer they can discuss real legal solutions.

Be aware that you are NOT a lawyer so NEVER provide legal advice yourself. Always state that by having access to lawyers who are experts in the problem area of your visitors, that is where the solutions lie.

In order to create a website that will get ranked high in the search engines and attract traffic, you need training, mentoring to get the results you desire. We all make mistakes to. The problem is where can you get help that won’t cost you?

There is a very special company that provides you with everything you need to create a winning website  As well as have access to experts who can answer your questions when you get stuck. At no additional cost to you.

Read my review of the company where I got trained as well as thousands of other successful online entrepreneurs are getting trained every day.

Here you not only get trained, you can also purchase your domain name and get it hosted on a secure and very fast server. There are lessons that teach you everything you need to know to create a successful online business. This is a one stop destination that will save you loads of time and money. Read my review and let me know what you think.

Can You Build A LegalShield MLM Business Exclusively Online?

When you look at the LegalShield compensation plan table, notice the override commissions on the far right column. These are commissions you earn from the sales of the team you build. The only way you can earn this leveraged income is to recruit other associates into your team.

When you are making sales online, there is no pressure to build a team. You have the tools to earn good money by yourself.

Making at least 10 plan sales each week is an achievable goal. However, once you achieve your income goals, why not try to help others do the same? And in the process, boost your own income to higher levels?

Where do you begin? With the customers you already have.

LegalShield has a fantastic online back office system where you can use automated means to communicate with your customers.

Once you find they are happy customers, why not offer them the business opportunity? Do this by asking them permission first.

Even if only a small fraction of your customers end up becoming associates and join your team, that would result in an explosion of income when they use the same system as you to create sales of their own.

And you can be their online coach to help them duplicate what you are doing.

Does that make sense to you?

Using the Internet to build an MLM business has grown in popularity. However, the vast majority of leaders in these MLM organizations much rather you used the traditional means to build your business. I wrote an article about this that you may want to check out:

MLM Online Secrets Your Upline Doesn’t Want You To Know!

Pros and Cons

All businesses no matter how they operate have positives and negatives. Let’s explore how LegalShield stacks up.

Pros

1. Being able to access lawyers anytime you need one brings peace of mind.
2. The cost is very affordable which is the exception for an MLM company.
3. Quality leadership under CEO Jeff Bell
4. LegalShield encourages its members to use the services often to solve any legal issue
5. Your local Law Firm will hook you up to an attorney experienced with the issue you have
6. There is no limit to the number of consultations you can have.
7. How cool is it when your attorney can represent you in traffic court without you having to be there
8. Having attorneys defend you in civil court without having to pay any hourly rate is invaluable
9. Your annual court hours earned can be carried over to following years if not used.
10. Being able to have your will made and updated as needed is an amazing benefit
11. Having a lawyer represent you with the IRS if you are audited is another great benefit.
12. When emergencies arise having access to a lawyer 24/7/365 is a God Send
13. The business opportunity has an exceptional compensation plan
14. LegalShield offers a full featured back office to conduct one’s business effectively
15. Training is provided online as well as in local venues every Saturday (before Covid-19)

Cons

1. Criminal cases do not fall into the covered benefit. However, they do qualify for the 25% discount.
2. Attorneys are provided by the Law Firm in your State. You cannot choose who you want.
3. Very few associates are able to truly build a successful sales team to create the income they desire.
4. The services and business opportunity is only available in the USSSS, Canada and the UK.
5. Rarely do you have the opportunity to meet your attorney face to face.
6. The MLM business model uses the same old process like talking to family and friends. And inviting them to meetings where the opportunity is shared so that they can sign up.
7. You are encouraged to attend Super Saturday events and Conventions that add to your business cost. Of course, you can use these expenses for tax deductions.
8. Even though the company has a quality PRODUCT that is fairly priced, the percentage of associates who are earning a significant amount of money is still low, typical of ALL MLM companies.

My Recommendation

Would you say I have done a thorough review of LegalShield? Have I presented a fair assessment of its benefits as well as its shortcomings?

I strongly recommend becoming a member of LegalShield and arm yourself with legal protection at very affordable prices. Since this company offers much needed services in  the legal protection and ID theft protection fields why don’t you consider becoming an associate and helping others subscribe to these programs?

If you are already an associate of LegalShield, why not consider the option of building your business online as I suggested? I highly recommend it. Trying to do it the traditional way has proved it doesn’t get results for most of its associates.

And if you are not a LegalShield member or associate, consider that LegalShield provides a much-needed service that is especially beneficial in these troubling times.

If you are stopped by the police for any reason at all, you can tell them you need to speak to your attorney before answering any of their questions.

How cool is that?

If a company treats you unfairly, or worse, cons you out of your hard-earned money, you can seek help from your local Law Firm who will right that injustice on your behalf.

If your identity is stolen, isn’t it reassuring to know you have a major company taking action on your behalf to right that wrong and make you whole?

These are just a small fraction of the benefits LegalShield provides.

And if you so desire to promote these services as a business, you have that option. In my humble opinion, LegalShield is one of a handful of MLM companies whose products are worth buying without having to join the business to justify the expense.

Avon and Mary Kay are two other MLM companies who fall into this same category.

LegalShield and IDShield provides several affordable plans for individuals, families, small businesses and commercial drivers. I am certain you can find one that has the right combination for you.

And if you choose to do the business, it is great to know you have the option of running your MLM business the traditional way or using the Internet. My recommendation is to use the Internet of course!

One More Thing!

I have one last piece of advice. The skills you develop to build your business can also be used to create an affiliate marketing business.

If you feel that you do not want to create a business selling LegalShield plans, you have a whole new world of companies who will be happy for you to market their products. And they will pay you a commission to do so.

In addition, the skills you will learn in writing content, how to rank that content high in the search engines and generate traffic to a website, can be used as marketable skills in a website building business.

Do you know you can charge fees starting at $1000 and up? And these kinds of businesses lend themselves to monthly retainer fees to the tune of $200 a month and more, to service the websites of the companies you sell your services to.

You now have it in your power to change your life! In more ways than one.

if you have any questions please leave them in the comments section below. And if you wish to get a jump start into the world of affiliate marketing, check out my review of the company that has taught me and continues to do so. That article will give you the opportunity to join this company for free. No credit cards necessary.

My goal is to help you review the many options you have to create an online business and make an informed decision if any of these is right for you.

And if you decide you wish to take action, I will be at your side to guide you all the way.

I wish you all the best in whatever direction you decide to go.

Cheers!

Edwin