Debt Collection Leads Top Five List of Legal Services Requests From Legal Service Plan Members

ADA, Okla. — Debt Collection was the leading nationwide service request among legal service plan members of Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc. (NYSE:  PPD) during the second quarter of 2009, followed by (2) Foreclosure/Eviction, (3) Family Law, (4) Bankruptcy and (5) Employment Issues. The Pre-Paid Legal Services (PPD) "Top Five List" is based on the total volume of member (customer) requests for service submitted to the network of 53 independent provider law firms that provide legal services to Pre-Paid Legal Services members throughout the U.S. and four Canadian Provinces.

For the period, April – June 2009, there were more than 574,000 requests for service for all legal services, and of this total, the Top Five List included the following requests for service: Debt Collection (46,073), Foreclosure/Eviction (36,179), Family Law (38,325), Bankruptcy (14,980) and Employment Issues (26,461). (NOTE: Each request for service is recorded as a specific member request, which may include telephone consultations, third-party letters and other communications. In addition to these top five legal services request categories, PPD plans include a broad range of other legal services, such as will preparation, trial defense benefits and IRS audit legal services.)

In total, the requests for service were from individual, group and business plan members of Pre-Paid Legal Service’s legal service plans. The specific breakdown of requests for service from these members (by percentage of total requests) include: individual members (78 percent), group members (14 percent) and business members (8 percent).

"The Pre-Paid Legal Services Top Five List is intended to be a ‘snap-shot’ of the issues that legal service plan members are facing today, and given the economic hardships that so many Americans are experiencing, it’s not a pretty picture," said Pre-Paid Legal Services Founder and CEO Harland C. Stonecipher. "Fortunately, we have ongoing relationships with a nationwide network of superior independent law firms that proactively respond to our member requests for service on a daily basis."

The top five legal service requests are based on the following:

Debt Collection – includes legal assistance to support our members against other parties and defending members from third-party debt collectors

Foreclosure/Eviction – represents legal service to protect members from foreclosure/eviction and support for members in tenant eviction

Family Law – includes legal services related to divorce, child support, child custody and child visitation

Bankruptcy – includes personal and business bankruptcy

Employment Issues – includes termination, wrongful termination, layoffs, unemployment compensation, severance agreements and employee vs. independent contractor issues

The Pre-Paid Legal Services Top Five List is based on data collected at the provider law firms and shared with PPD. This information does not include any details regarding specific conversations or consultations between members and provider attorneys. PPD does, however, maintain a rigorous monitoring system which provides feedback on the "customer service" experience of PPD members with the provider law firms. This is one of the distinguishing characteristics of the PPD’s legal service plan model. The median tenure for provider law firms in the PPD network is more than 10 years.

About PPD
Pre-Paid Legal Services was one of the first companies in the United States organized solely to design, underwrite and market legal service plans. We provide legal services to more than 1.5 million families across the U.S. and Canada. Plan benefits are delivered through a network of independent provider law firms. Members have direct, toll-free access to their provider law firm. Provider firms are carefully selected and quality of service is closely monitored to maintain the high standards of Pre-Paid Legal. The company website is: www.prepaidlegal.com.