Also known as: group legal service plans · group legal plan · prepaid group legal plan
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A prepaid or group legal service plan operated by an organization not owned or directed by the lawyer that uses live person-to-person contact to enroll members or sell subscriptions for the plan from persons who are not known to need legal services in a particular matter covered by the plan.
Gwen Gallagher purchases an auto policy from Harbor Mutual Insurance. The policy includes access to a group legal service plan run by an independent company called Metro Legal Plan. Harbor agents at a community fair explain the plan's general benefits to passersby without targeting anyone known to have a specific pending claim. Gwen enrolls and later contacts a participating lawyer for routine contract advice.
Gareth Glover lives in a housing complex served by a charitable nonprofit. The nonprofit's counselors meet residents at a community center and describe a subscription plan for landlord-tenant issues offered by an independent for-profit company. Counselors avoid anyone known to face an active eviction. Gareth signs up and receives services from a panel lawyer for a lease dispute.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Yes. The rules permit a lawyer to participate in a prepaid or group legal service plan operated by an organization the lawyer does not own or direct, even when the plan uses live person-to-person contact to enroll members, provided the contacts reach people who are not known to need legal services in a particular matter covered by the plan.
Supporting sources
Yes. The exception applies only when the plan is operated by an organization not owned or directed by the lawyer. If the lawyer owns or directs the plan, the live contacts become the lawyer's own solicitation and fall outside the permitted exception.
Supporting sources
It depends on whether the contacts are directed at individuals known to need legal services in a particular matter covered by the plan. Generalized outreach using public lists is permitted when the counselors do not approach residents about specific pending cases or promise representation by a named lawyer.
Supporting sources
No. The rule focuses on whether the plan is independently operated and whether enrollment targets people not known to need services in a particular matter. The profit status of the plan operator does not determine whether lawyer participation is permitted.
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