PrePaid Legal's 2005 numbers are in. Note that 666,595 memberships were sold in 2005, and yet net gain in memberships for 2005 were less than 70,000 (from 1,424,707 at the end of 2004 to 1,490,847 at the end of 2005). This means that roughly 600,000 memberships were cancelled in 2005. 242,223 sales associates were recruited in 2005 (more than a 1/3 the number of memberships sold) as opposed to 107,552 recruited associates in 2004. On the other hand, 666,595 memberships were sold in 2005, compared to 599,929 in 2004. In other words, roughly 135,000 more assiociates were recruited in 2005 than in 2004, and roughly 70,000 more memberships were sold in 2005 than in 2004.
During the 1st quarter of 2007, new sales associates enrolled decreased 37.6% compared to the first quarter of 2006. Memberships produced decreased 2.2% and new membership fees written decreased 7.5% and our active membership base increased slightly by 8,368 memberships compared to the comparable period of the previous year.
A growing number of Americans are using prepaid legal services plans as a cheaper way to obtain legal advice, a trend creating more business for local law firms.
Under these plans, which generally cost $9 to $25 a month, basic services typically include legal advice and consultation by telephone, review of simple legal documents, preparation of a simple will and short letters or phone calls from a lawyer to an adverse party. Other plans offer more comprehensive coverage for trials, marital problems, bankruptcy and real estate matters.
Although it does not endorse any particular provider of these plans, the American Bar Association supports the concept, said Alec Schwartz, director of the American Prepaid Legal Services Institute in Chicago, an affiliate of the ABA.
"It's a very good way for the average citizen to get legal advice and legal help without a big outlay of money. It also makes it easy to [access] legal services and legal advice on a preventive basis," he said. "Almost everybody has a question that comes up during the year that they probably could benefit by getting some legal advice on."
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