When Ronald Ballerini was offered access to a group legalbenefit through his employer, he was convinced of its value justafter reading the brochure.

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The firefighter and paramedic, who's employed by the SouthfieldFire Department in Southfield, Mich., was thinking of doing someestate and trust planning. He also thought it might come in handyif he needed help with some mortgage financing and documentreview.

But that wasn't the case.

Ballerini instead used the benefit during the completion of ahome he built. The contractor he hired wasn't completing the finalpunch list. Ballerini picked up the phone and called Hyatt LegalPlans, his legal benefit provider, and got the name of a localattorney who promptly sent the contractor a letter.

“Since it was from an attorney, he took care of it prettyquickly,” Ballerini says.

Last year, Ballerini used the plan again when he stopped payinghomeowner's association dues on another house because he questionedthe services the association provided—the association wouldn'trelease its expenditures and didn't host member meetings. The HOAtook him to small claims court. After some legal maneuvering,Ballerini thought the case was settled back in May 2011, but theplaintiff re-opened the case and it went to a higher court.

Again, Ballerini contacted Hyatt Legal Plans, which put him intouch with a local attorney. The judge eventually dismissed thecase.

“If I had to pay for the service of the attorney, it wouldn'thave been worth my time hiring the attorney,” Ballerini says.“Easily, this would have been a couple thousand dollars.”

Ballerini's story is one of many from an industry that continuesto grow. Because group legal benefits cost very little, are easy toadministrate and have positive effects on employee performance,more and more employers are considering making them a part of theirvoluntary benefits packages, and they shouldn't need a subpoena toget information about the plans from brokers.

That means brokers need to be prepared as potential clients lookto offer more benefits options, plan participants spread thebenefit's advantages and attorneys sign up to become part of thenetworks.

The basics

Here's a brief on how group legal plans work: Most plans areaffordable—not more than $20 per month and cover a host ofpre-determined legal services. Phone and office consultations arecovered, but employees use the plans for many other real-worldlegal actions including estate planning, document preparation, realestate transactions, family law matters, civil lawsuits, juvenilecourt and consumer issues. Some employees use the benefit to drafta will or fight a traffic citation in court. As a bonus, providerssometimes include identity theft as part a package while otherscover identity theft within the plan. Plans offer access to anetwork of thousands of attorneys through a phone number orwebsite. Often times, there's no deductible associated with thebenefit, either.

All of those positives mean group legal benefits have grown froma little known offering to a point where they have a relativelystrong foothold in voluntary benefits packages in the country'slargest companies and some of the smallest local employers.

While group legal benefits aren't ubiquitous in the UnitedStates, they are in Europe. Employees there have an expectation ofgroup legal coverage in their benefits packages and have been partof those packages for decades, says Tori Wible, executive directorof the American Pre-Paid Legal ServicesInstitute.

In the United States, group legal plans have been around forabout 30 years. The United Auto Workers negotiated one of the firstplans in the late 1970s. Industry sources say the benefit movedinto the mainstream of voluntary offerings in the 1990s.

“I used to go to monthly tradeshows and people would come andlook at my booth and they'd look at my logos and they'd say,'That's interesting, but what the heck is it?'” says Marcia Bowers,marketing and sales director for Hyatt Legal Plans. “In the 1990s,my job was to educate the public about this benefit, and we did sothrough a lot of marketing. Now most big companies are aware ofthese benefits and it's only a matter of time before they offerit.”

Hyatt Legal Plans, a subsidiary at MetLife, was in the vanguardof companies offering group legal plans. Hyatt signed their firstclient in 1981, and had 55 accounts when they were acquired byMetLife in 1997. Today, they have more than 1,400 accounts—145 ofwhich are from Fortune 500 companies. ARAG, based in DesMoines, Iowa, also is an industry leader, and several other smallercompanies are making waves including LegalShield of Dallas andLegal Club of America in Sunrise, Fla.

“Business is robust, the good news is that there are still a lotof companies that don't have legal plans as product categories,”Bowers says. “Hyatt and its competitors have penetrated about 34percent of the market.”

Employers

Industry sources say employers should take a close look atoffering group legal benefits for their employees—and the reasonswhy can be measured in dollars and sense.

“The biggest reason I've seen companies bring a legal plan onboard is to help employees reduce stress and reduce absenteeism,and that increases an employer's bottom line,” says Tony Petrill,vice president of sales for LegalShield. “The whole concept is tokeep the employee more productive. If they have a challenge andthey don't know where to turn, we may be just the benefit they'repraying for. Let us handle it and let the employees get back totheir jobs.”

LegalShield traditionally has focused on smaller employers,mainly those with 300 employees or fewer. However, LegalShield isstarting a broker initiative in the first quarter of 2012 and isaggressively marketing to larger companies to build on theircurrent client roster.

Also, employers might find value in offering the benefit as away to show their employees they understand what's going on intheir lives and can offer help. In days when employers are askingworkers to contribute more to benefits like health insurance, it'sa way to provide employees with a coverage that can be of realvalue—and potentially help with recruitment and retention.

Employers also should be aware that offering the benefit costslittle or nothing, and most plans don't require extensivepaperwork, claims forms or other administrative hassles.

Employees

But how are group legal plans beneficial to employees? Simple.The plans help employees overcome what they perceive to be majorobstacles standing between them and the legal system—expense andfear.

Industry sources report that one of the major reasons Americansdon't use attorneys is the expense. Group legal benefits makerepresentation affordable. Think of the benefit as an inexpensiveway to put an army of lawyers on retainer.

“This is the kind of benefit where an employee says, 'Look atwhat my employer is doing for me. I can use the plan as much as Iwant without any deductibles,'” Bowers says.

But it's also a way for employees to interact with the legalsystem in a way that isn't intimidating. Thanks to the GreatRecession, many American workers are facing financial pressure,which can mean having to file for bankruptcy, fight a foreclosureor deal with a tax audit. Employees might be going through adivorce or facing a custody battle. Face it, life happens and agroup legal plan offers employees access to lawyers that can helpface these ordeals.

“Employees are going to have these scenarios and they needaccess to the legal system in a non-threatening manner,” saysDonald Rowe, vice president of employee benefits for Legal Club ofAmerica. “To me, there are a lot of people in my client base whosign up who are intimidated by the legal system. We give themaccess to fair treatment at a fair price.”

Brokers

Brokers looking to diversify their portfolios should consideroffering group legal benefits, industry sources say. Of particularinterest to brokers are some statistics from Hyatt. Bowers says 87percent of employees use the benefit more than once a year and 83percent re-enroll.

Word is getting out about the benefit and brokers should beready to discuss the benefit with potential clients. Most industrysources say employees who sign up for the benefit often talk aboutthe benefit's advantages with their fellow employees, who may thensign up or have questions. 

“At work, a few of the other guys have asked about it and I hadtalked about my case,” Ballerini says. “I told them it wasn't justabout the case, they can do trusts and there's all kinds ofdifferent things they can do other than defense.”

Brokers should be prepared to offer the same time-tested ways ofcommunicating the benefit's value such as open enrollment, benefitsfairs and luncheons as they would with other benefits. A goodstrong dialogue between employees and the company's human resourcesdepartment helps, too.

Attorneys

For attorneys, the argument for signing on a group plan isstrong. It can mean a steady source of guaranteed income for theirfirms, more referrals and a way to re-direct their financialresources.

“Truth be told, the attorneys might treat the group legal plansjust a bit more responsively that some other clients,” Bowers says.“Here's why—they get paid right away. We handle the billing andthey don't have to hassle with their clients. We pay them twice amonth. They value legal plan clients greatly. The attorneys reallylike servicing these clients.”

Wible adds that the benefit also can help attorneys obtain morework.

“Once you get a client in the door, if the attorney does a greatjob on the coverage services that client is more likely to comeback to them for something else or refer friends who may not be inthe plan to that lawyer,” Wible says. “They might not make a lot ofmoney on the coverage services, but it generates referrals.”

And Rowe points out network attorneys can save some money interms of getting clients.

“It's a client generator for them, and it's at no cost,” Rowesays. “Here in Florida, lawyers are allowed to advertise. Thatcosts money. I'm sending them paying customers for no hard-dollaracquisition costs.”

Given all the advantages for the parties involved, it's notpossible to say the jury is still out on group legalbenefits—they're going to continue to show up in more and morebenefits packages.

Plenty of big employers offer the benefit, including AmericanAirlines, Target and MillerCoors—and those are just a few fromHyatt's client list.

But for an employee in the work force right now, it could allcome down to one simple thing —peace of mind.

“I have that in my back pocket—anytime I need it, I just call,”Ballerini says. “They ask what I need, what the problem is and whatI'm looking for and I go from there. It worked great. I wouldhighly recommend it and will probably use it again.”