Who is involved in Legal services?

When you subscribe to a pre-paid legal service, you are likely to deal 
with an attorney and a number of other individuals and organisations who 
are involved in one way or another with the service. It’s important to 
understand the role of each participating party in a legal service plan, 
particularly when you’re unhappy with the service or when fee disputes or 
any other litigation with your provider arises. 

So, who is involved in your pre-paid legal arrangement?

Your Lawyer

You get to choose your attorney from a pool of attorneys in the network. 
Your lawyer is your point of contact for any phone advice or office 
consultation. He is the one who furnishes other legal services specified 
in your written agreement with your provider: he drafts your will, reviews 
simple contracts for you, writes letters on your behalf and makes phone 
calls to adverse third parties. 
If you are unsatisfied with the quality of work you are getting from your 
current attorney in the network then you have the choice of choosing 
alternate attorneys. You can also make a complaint to your provider’s 
in-house charge of complaints. 

If you benefit from legal services under a group plan scheme then there are 
a number of parties who are involved in this scheme. 
First the contracted firm, just as is the case with an individual plan, is 
the one which provides all the legal help through its network of attorneys. 
There are also two parties involved in the deal: a plan administrator and a 
plan sponsor. 

A plan sponsor is the organisation you are member of, which sponsors your 
legal plan. Your sponsor can either choose to provide the legal services as 
a fringe-benefit, as is the case with most employers, pre-charge for the 
service  - universities usually charge for any legal service as part of 
tuition fees – or charge low-costs, as do trade unions under a 
group-bargaining scheme.

Your plan administrator is the person appointed by your sponsor to arrange 
for the panel of lawyers from the contracted firm to provide services, 
collects all the fees paid into a pre-paid plan, publicizes the plan and 
handles enrolment and marketing. The administrator may be a an employee of 
the sponsor, an insurance company or an outside firm. 

Regulating Authority

Authorities that regulate pre-paid plans provide you with an outline of how 
pre-paid legal services are managed and also an outlet in case there are 
any complaints. 
Individual pre-paid legal plans are generally regulated by your state 
department of consumer affairs. 
If you are an employee participating in a group plan funded by your 
employer, then the legal services are covered and regulated under the 
deferral Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).

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