Pre-paid GROUP LEGAL PLANS-
PROVIDING LOW COST ADVICE TO CONSUMERS IN NEW JERSEY
By Kenneth Vercammen, Esq.
Legal service plans are an excellent method for groups to obtain low cost and free legal advice. Millions of middle and low income working
Americans need an attorney when legal problems strike. Today, several hundred group legal plans
provide advice to millions of Americans who are Union members and/ or members
of clubs and organizations that set up a legal plan. These legal plans in New Jersey provide a free telephone consultation with an
attorney, some pay the entire cost of attorney representation including trial.
It is easy and almost no cost to establish a "consultation" legal
plan for your union, your employees and even a non-profit group. Your member
and/or employees can obtain some free legal advice and can sometimes head-off
serious legal problems by preventive law.
All currently
registered New Jersey legal plans provide a free consultation to members
without any prepaid costs by the member, their union or employer. It is easy to set up a free legal plan for
your group, union or even for your employees. Experienced legal plan attorneys
are familiar with the easy, no- cost registration requirements with the State
of New Jersey.
Prearranged access to
a lawyer permits plan members to receive legal counseling and representation
before it is too late, before a driver's license is lost, before someone dies
without a will. Union members and their dependents, whose unions have
negotiated legal services as an employees benefit, make up the majority of
those covered. However, over the past 10 years commercially marketed plans have
greatly expanded the availability of prepaid legal services to credit card
holders, bank depositors, credit unions and even people not affiliated with any
group that want "legal question insurance". " A Lawyer's Guide to Prepaid Legal
Services" at 1
Employer financed group legal services plans, previously
qualified under Internal Revenue Code Section 120 have provided millions of
Americans with an attorney when an emergency happens or even when they have a
legal question. These plans do exactly
what Congress intended when it established Section 120- guarantee affordable access to legal
services for middle class families by addressing their real and otherwise unmet
need for legal help.
Some legal plans are "prepaid legal plans “What does a
prepaid legal plan really do? First, it reduces the cost of legal services to
the consumer. Rather than paying a possible $115- $155 per hour or a flat fee
of up to $900 for a simple divorce, the
consumer or their employer may pay between $50-
$200 per year for the legal plan and they then are eligible to use a lawyer for
services which would otherwise cost
hundreds or thousands of dollars. A
prepaid plan, because it prepays for and provides ready access to lawyer
services, encourages preventive legal care. " A Lawyer's Guide to Prepaid
Legal Services" at 4. Unpaid plans, such as the AFL-CIO's Union Privilege
Legal Service, provides free consultations and referrals to qualified attorneys
Today millions of
Americans are given access to an attorney, usually a private attorney under
employer plans and also under employee or consumer plans.
See "Prepaid Legal Plans Help Small Law Firms and Consumers"
Solo-ABA/GP Winter, 1994
On March 4, 1994 I met with
Congressman Frank Pallone, D- NJ to discuss legal service plans. I encouraged him to support prepaid legal
plans to help consumers. Congressman
Pallone, a long time supporter of Consumer legislation, appears on our
side. Legal services improve economic
productivity, because an employee distracted by legal difficulties isn't fully
effective. Legal Plan Letter Number 290, National Resource Center for Consumers
of Legal Services at 3.
According to the American Prepaid Legal Services Institute
(API), a Chicago-based ABA related national membership organization, group
legal service plans involve advance arrangements for meeting personal legal
needs, especially for legal services that prevent or settle disputes. Legal service plans extend quality, low cost
legal services to middle income Americans.
They are inexpensive - the average employer-paid plan costs less than
$100 per family per year. Everyone
should have a will, power of attorney, living will and access to a local
attorney. These plans enhance employee
productivity by promoting emotional, financial and physical health. Legal
services plans work much like prepaid dental or medical plans. "Building
Your Small Firm Practice on a Prepaid Foundation" Florida Bar Journal Vol.
LXVIII, No 1 p48 (Jan. 1994).
William Bolger,
Director of the Union Privilege Legal Services of the AFL-CIO and other
national leaders in the legal service
field states that legal plans enjoy
strong, broad support from labor, consumer, bar and insurance groups. IRS Tax Credit Section 120 places employer
paid group legal service plans on equal footing with other statutory fringe
benefits by providing the same favorable tax treatment. As in the case of medical services, early
treatment can prevent catastrophe and its attendant cost in time and
money. For example, psychological
studies have demonstrated that there is a direct correlation between legal
problems and lost work time and productivity.
Employees' work performance often has a direct relationship to personal
legal problems, therefore the sooner a solution can be found for the employees'
problem, the sooner the employees can focus on their work. See "Opening the Door to Affordable
Legal Services" American Prepaid Legal Services Institute p1 (1988).
It is not difficult to organize a legal services plan, whether it is a union,
trade association, church or non-profit organization. At least half of the
population does not have adequate access to the legal system. By increasing
awareness of legal services plans, a win/win opportunity exists for people with
legal problems. All consumers and
businesses should support legal plans.
For additional information on the
Prepaid Legal Services, contact the author.
About the Author
Kenneth A. Vercammen Tel: 908/906-2180
Law Offices of Kenneth
Vercammen
407 Main Street
Metuchen, NJ 08840
The Law Office of Kenneth A. Vercammen provides legal services to eleven national
major prepaid legal service plans. It
provides representation services for
Wills, Trust, Probate, Criminal & Traffic Court, DWI, Divorce, and
Personal Injury. To provide better legal
service in the complex and ever-changing areas of law, they utilize the latest
available technology, caselaw, statutes and research. By offering a full range of legal services,
the office has grown and continued to provide effective representation and
advice.
Kenneth Vercammen is a Litigation
Attorney in Metuchen, NJ, approximately 17 miles north of Princeton. He often lectures for the New Jersey State
Bar Association on personal injury, criminal / municipal court law and drunk
driving. He has published 60 articles
in national and New Jersey publications on municipal court and litigation
topics. He has served as a Special Acting Prosecutor in seven different cities
and towns in New Jersey and also successfully defended hundreds of individuals
facing Municipal Court and Criminal Court charges.
In his private practice, he has devoted
a substantial portion of his professional time to the preparation and trial of
litigated matters. He has appeared in
Courts throughout New Jersey several times each week on many personal injury
matters, Municipal Court trials, matrimonial hearings and contested
administrative law hearings.
Since 1985, his primary concentration has been on litigation
matters. Mr. Vercammen gained other
legal experiences as the Confidential Law Clerk to the Court of Appeals of
Maryland (Supreme Court),with the Delaware County, PA District Attorney Office
handling Probable Cause Hearings,
Middlesex County Probation Dept as a Probation Officer, and an Executive
Assistant to Scranton District Magistrate, Thomas Hart, in Scranton, PA.
