The service delivery method used by a proposed legal plan is the single most important factor to consider when evaluating how effective that legal plan will be. The level of expertise of plan attorneys becomes irrelevant if not quickly and accurately accessible by employees. Employees will end up wasting significant amounts of time with unnecessary office visits, telephone calls trying to obtain answers to their questions, or many other activities that result in lowered productivity and a highly stressed work environment.

   Unlike the Dentist or Physician directories people already know how to use, a "find it on your own" attorney directory is of little use to someone not familiar with the complex world of legal specialization, procedures, precedents, and jurisdictions. To be effective in increasing employee productivity, a Group Legal Insurance Plan must utilize a service delivery methodology that enables it to offer personalized legal and financial services. The following key components are required:

• Detailed Initial Employee Case Assessment Procedures.
• Accurate Matching of Employee Case Needs with Attorney Legal Specialty
• Thorough Presentation of Case to Attorney
• Comprehensive Follow-Up Procedures
• Documented Case Status/Needs Communication

   Each of the above components is very important when trying to determine if a proposed Legal Plan will indeed help increase employee productivity and add value to your company’s employee benefit portfolio, or simply waste employee time and money away due to chronic service issues. Each component is explained in more detail below.

Detailed Initial Employee Case Assessment

   When a legal problem arises, employees need to solve the problem quickly. This results in unscheduled absences and high stress since most employees do not have the time or resources to research their case, then select the correct attorney needed to make the right decisions.

According to a survey by the American Bar Association, more than 70 percent of U.S. households had a need for a lawyer in the previous 12 months. The ABA report also found that most of those consumers “felt uncertain about how to tell a good lawyer from a bad one”.

   Legal Access has developed a comprehensive set of “we-do-it-for-you” capabilities and staff infrastructure to make sure employee needs are addressed quickly and accurately. Unlike any other plan, the unique Legal Access “we-do-it-for-you” capabilities gives all employees the security to know they have the assistance required to solve their legal problems 24/7.

   The key to a successful legal plan is correctly identifying employee needs. Our historical database shows the legal needs of all employees, no matter how similar they sound, can be very different, and can require careful assessment processes. Some of these critical elements include:

• The Severity of the Legal Problem
• How Far the Problem has Progressed (when Assistance is Sought By the Employee)
• The Legal Specialty Expertise Needed for Different Types of Legal Problems
• Fast & Accurate Service Requirements Analysis
• The Level of Sensitivity & Confidentiality Surrounding Legal Problems
• The Need for Diversity and Cultural Considerations to be Included in Determining the Attorney Selected

   Legal Access has developed a full set of criteria and benchmarks to determine legal needs and case status in each of the above areas. The Personal Assistance Specialist (PAS) uses these to accurately establish needs when initially interviewing an employee with a legal problem.

Accurate Matching of Employee Case Needs with Attorney Specialty

   One of the keys to successfully resolving a legal matter is finding an attorney with the correct area of expertise, i.e., the correct legal specialty. But Legal Specialties are so complex that reference books are published about them. Click this link to search Google under "legal specialties".

   As you can see in Google, Legal Specialties are very complex. Just a few examples would be: Tort Law; Antitrust Law; Real Estate Law; Labor and Employment Law; Trusts and Estates Law; Appellate Practice; Banking and Commercial Finance Practice; Corporate Law; Bankruptcy Law; Insurance Law; Civil Litigation; Intellectual Property Law, and many, many others.

   Researching the type of legal specialty needed is very difficult and time consuming, especially when trying to use a simple, "find-them-on-your-own" directory listing plan attorneys by region or ZIP code. This is why so many employees with a legal problem spend so much working time on the telephone hoping to find the right attorney. What's worse, how does the empoloyee know if the attorney they finally end up with actually has experience with that legal specialty, or is simply trying to "learn on the job"? This is what leads to so many wasted, un-necessary appointments, so much frustration, and other factors behind unscheduled absesnteeism.

   At Legal Access, our highly trained Personal Assistance Specialists (PAS) use a proven, highly refined proprietary propcess to accurately assess the employee's legal specialty requirements and quickly locate the best attorney to meet those needs. This option ensures every employee will have their own dedicated “help specialist” to get their legal problems attended to, and ensures minimal “lost-work” time.

Thorough Presentation of Case to Attorney

   One of the most critical events in any legal situation is that first meeting between the attorney and a new client, but many things can go wrong at that time. For example, the employee (client) may not tell the attorney about all relevant aspects of the case simply because they are unfamiliar with legal issues, or they may have forgotten an important document, or there might even be issues the employee is not even aware of.

   The comprehensive Legal Access “we-do-it-for-you” methodology includes a detailed initial case presentation to eliminates these time-wasting situations. The Personal Assistance Specialist (PAS) assigned to the employee's case will present the case profile to the attorney selected by the employee before the employee meets with the attorney. This ensures the attorney has all the key information about the case.

Comprehensive Follow-Up Procedures

   Reducing employee stress is much more than finding a good attorney. Reducing worry, stress, and wasted time also means a system for keeping the employee informed about the status of their case must also be provided by a quality Group Legal Plan. A good legal plan must provide a way of collecting case status information other than the employee making repeated calls to an attorney's office trying to obtain it, on company time.

   The Legal Access team conducts extensive, detailed follow-up after each “Touch” with the attorney. Unlike many plans, these follow-ups are conducted for every employee legal situation as part of the Legal Access effort to obtain current case status information. Highlights are:

• Follow-up after Every “Touch” w/ Attorney
• Confirms Attorney Helpfulness
• Verifies Productivity of Initial Meeting with Attorney
• Confirms No Service Issues Exist
• Confirms Case/Lawsuit is Progressing
• Average of 7 times per Consultation
• Average of 40 Times during Litigation/Lawsuit
• Immediate Contact with Attorney – 87%
• Same Day Contact - 94%
• Satisfaction with Consultation Ratings – 98%

Documented Case Status/Needs Communication

   Reducing employee worry, stress, and wasted time requires the ability for all parties to communicate effectively. What if the attorney needs a specific document or piece of information but cannot reach the employee in time? The result could be a wasted trip, or worse. What if the employee (client) cannot reach the attorney to obtain updated case status? The result is needless worry, or worse.

   The Legal Access “we-do-it-for-you” process utilizes a real-time information-retrieval and comunications system accessible by all plan attorneys and Legal Access PAS, allowing the employee (client) to obtain information about their case with one phone call, 24/7. Highlights are:

• Does not rely on "unsecured", non-private email.
• Integrated System allows Real-Time Information Transfer
• Updates are Immediately Viewable

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