Also known as: group legal services plans · group legal service plan · GLSP · legal services plan
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A prepaid arrangement operated by an organization not owned or directed by a lawyer that provides members access to legal services through a network of attorneys in exchange for periodic payments. The arrangement permits the operator to use live person-to-person contact to enroll subscribers who are not known to need legal services in a particular matter covered by the plan.
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Dusk Productions negotiates a benefits package that includes a prepaid group legal services plan operated by Urban Show, an independent corporation. Urban Show representatives visit recording studios and describe the plan's general benefits and costs to artists without referencing any individual contract or pending dispute. Gabriel Gonzalez, an entertainment lawyer on the plan's panel, accepts matters generated by these enrollments.
Harbor Mutual Insurance bundles access to a group legal services plan operated by Metro Legal Plan with its auto policies. Metro is independent and not owned or directed by any lawyer. Harbor agents pitch the combined product at mall kiosks and community fairs to the general public without targeting individuals known to have specific claims. Giselle Guerrero, a personal injury lawyer on the panel, accepts cases referred through the plan.
No. The rules contain an express exception that permits lawyer participation in a prepaid or group legal services plan operated by an organization the lawyer does not own or direct, even when the plan uses live contact to enroll members, provided the contacts target only persons not known to need legal services in a particular matter covered by the plan.
Supporting sources
The key distinction is whether the persons contacted are known to need legal services in a particular matter covered by the plan. Generalized pitches about plan benefits and costs to the public or to union members without pre-identification of specific disputes fall within the exception, while targeted contact with individuals known to face an identified legal need does not.
Supporting sources
Yes. The rule does not prohibit lawyer participation based on the plan's profit status or on compensation paid to third-party organizations for outreach, so long as the plan is not owned or directed by the lawyer and enrollment contacts are limited to persons not known to need legal services in a particular matter.
Supporting sources
No. If the presentations remain uniform, describe only general plan benefits, and avoid any reference to the incident or to individual claims, the contacts do not target persons known to need legal services in a particular matter, and lawyer participation remains permissible.
Supporting sources