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The Future of the GLSA: Charting a New Course – Part VII

In the seventh and final installment of our weekly series on the future of the GLSA, Hyatt Legal Plans CEO, Ingrid Tolentino provides her perspective on the future of the GLSA and more.

Where do you see the GLSA in 3 years?

Ingrid: In 3 years, I would like to see GLSA as a larger and more influential organization.  GLSA is well positioned to increase its membership and become a true resource for its members and participating companies.  There is an opportunity to support attorneys to help grow their practices and leverage technology in a profession that has traditionally been slow to transform.  Through the annual meeting and other webinars, GLSA provides their members with helpful information regarding resources for small and solo practitioners and allows members to interact with Legal Plan Administrators.  Attorneys who participate in GLSA truly have the insight and opportunity to help promote and grow the legal plan industry and their own practices.

How does your company improve access to justice? 

Ingrid: For a low monthly premium, Hyatt Legal Plans provides our members and their dependents with access to a large network of experienced attorneys who can provide high-quality legal services for many personal legal needs. Dealing with legal issues such as a traffic ticket, divorce, or debt matters can be very stressful and overwhelming to many people. Legal plans provide people who have never utilized an attorney and may not even know how to select attorney the ability to work with a vetted attorney who will advocate for them and help them resolve their matter. The attorney’s fees for many legal matters are fully covered and paid directly by the legal plan. Without the legal plan, many members may not have the ability or the means to obtain counsel.

How can attorneys make more money using your company or plan? 

Ingrid: The best way to increase referrals and business from the legal plan is to provide high-quality service to our members. Our goal is for our members to have a very good experience while utilizing their legal plans. That experience is largely based upon the experience they have with the attorney that they chose to work with. From the first phone call or communication to your office, focus on providing the member with a good customer experience. Be responsive and timely with communications and updates on ongoing matters. If you have any questions or concerns about coverage, fees or any other issues, reach out to Hyatt Legal Plans to discuss. We are here to help and to provide you with the information you need to assist our members. Members who have positive experiences will share their experiences with co-workers and others and are a great source of new referrals to your office. Likewise, if a member has a negative experience, they will share that as well and that can have a chilling effect on new referrals.

We are very close to our spring conference in Tampa Bay on May 9th to 11th. If you are interested in the State of the Industry Panel plus learning more about how legal and subscription-based plans can help your practice, more information is available here. Registration is open now and there are limited tickets here.

For The Changing GLSA, A New And Improved Website

We pride ourselves on trying to be both responsive to our members and others who visit our site looking for information, and we strive to lead the pushing attorneys and the law profession as a whole towards the adoption of technology. As you might have noticed, our website is newly redesigned, brilliantly so from the team at ONE400. We’ve revamped our membership software and member portal to try and offer a better self-service experience to members looking to take advantage of what GLSA has to offer. And in an effort to better help browsers and members on our site, we’ve just added a chatbot to our site, courtesy of LawDroid. The bot allows you to ask questions from a selected set of the most frequently asked questions about membership, our upcoming conference, sponsorship opportunities, or you can ask a free form question programmed in using natural language processing — a process that will allow the bot to learn the questions that users have in order to develop more and better answers over time.

We’re excited about adding more new features and improvements to both GLSA’s online presence and the organization as a whole. We’re plotting a new course into the future, and we hope that the coming years of the GLSA are the best yet. If you want to learn more about the GLSA’s new course, you can sign up for our spring meeting in Tampa on May 9th through 11th, where we will be holding a facilitated workshop to help develop those ideas.

The future of the GLSA is bright, and we can’t wait for you to see what we have in store.

The Future of the GLSA: Charting a New Course – Part VI

In our sixth installment of our weekly series on the future of the GLSA, Keri C. Norris, of LegalShield and State of the Industry Panel veteran speaker provides her perspective. Keri serves on the GLSA Board and is also Past President.

Where do you see the GLSA in 3 years?

Keri: GLSA is evolving, just as the legal industry is evolving. It is a consumer driven, consumer choice industry, and lawyers and legal service providers must keep up.  This means the GLSA must be relevant, engaged, and provide real value to its members first, and then to consumers. I hope to see the GLSA as a leader in the area of technology in law as well as a leader in providing attorneys alternative methods to provide legal services to more people while growing their business.

What is the single most important change to the legal profession that must happen to improve access to justice or legal services?

Keri: Lawyers must figure out how to make services accessible and affordable. In order for lawyers to do this, traditional bar rules, often barriers or restrictions, must evolve and be more flexible.

How does your company improve access to justice? 

Keri: LegalShield has been providing North Americans access to justice through access to real attorneys for more than 45 years. We work to break down barriers for consumers. We work to make attorneys available for any topic for anyone, not just big cases or emergencies. Through everyday telephone and other technological access to real lawyers, we help facilitate relationships between clients and lawyers.  At LegalShield, we believe lawyers are critical to the process of justice. It’s not enough to only offer forms or information.  At LegalShield, we provide easy ways for connections, relationships, and partnerships to form between individuals and businesses and attorneys.

How can attorneys make more money using your company or plan? 

Keri: LegalShield lawyers build relationships with LegalShield members.  We want members to see our attorneys as their personal attorneys.   A human connection designed to solve a real problem creates repeat clients for our attorneys. We encourage our attorneys to be full service, helping consumers in everyday life and in emergencies.  Connections create revenue.

If you are interested in hearing more from the State of the Industry Panel – featured last month in Law Technology Today, and learning more about how legal and subscription-based plans can help your practice, attend the Tampa Bay conference this May 9th to 11th — more information available here. Registration is open now and there are limited tickets here.

Live Interview with Jean Clauson: How Legal Service Plans Improve Access to Justice

You can listen to Tom Martin’s interview with Jean Clauson below:

The Future of the GLSA: Charting a New Course – Part V

In part five of our weekly series on the future of the GLSA, we will hear from ARAG’s Jean Clauson, who is a repeat panelist on the State of the Industry Panel, featured last month in Law Technology Today. Jean is GLSA Past President and instrumental in the legal industry innovation movement.

Where do you see the GLSA in 3 years?

Jean: In the next few years there are opportunities for GLSA to build a more robust membership base through diversification and inclusion. GLSA can become more diverse by:

• broadening their reach of experts, contributors and board members to include both attorney and multi-disciplinary professional participants;
• providing a platform for attorneys who are minorities to step into more leadership roles; and
• creating a culture for ALL types of legal plans and services to get involved with GLSA.

By doing these things, we will create a more inclusive environment that supports bright people, innovative ideas, and a creative use of resources to advance access to quality legal services through legal services plans and industry collaboration.

What is the single most important change to the legal profession that must happen to improve access to justice or legal services?

Jean: More collaboration in the industry could really move the needle going forward. In the past few years, I have seen an abundance of innovative startups in legal tech, AI, consulting and services arenas. Additionally, the ABA and state bar associations have established their own Access to Justice Commissions, task forces, and technology initiatives. I’d like to see more collaboration and “knowledge-share” between the groups so that we can move quickly to experience process efficiencies and results through shared resources and a central knowledge bank.

How does your company improve access to justice? 

Jean: ARAG makes an impact by providing consumers with the ability to access and afford an attorney versus doing nothing. ARAG’s legal insurance product improves access to justice by providing middle-moderate income people with a resource to manage their legal issues, financial & budgeting needs, identity theft concerns, elder care assistance, and much more. 90% of our plan members say they are MORE likely to work with an attorney simply because they have a legal plan.

Outside of our daily business, we are passionate leaders that serve on several access-to-justice groups nationwide.

How can attorneys make more money using your company or plan? 

Jean: There are a few things attorneys can do to make more money on the ARAG network:

• Provide a great client service experience (resulting in referrals). We’ve found that attorneys with a really buttoned up client service process (in every facet of the client journey) do very well at ARAG.
• Setup your firm to manage volume business. The most successful firms on the ARAG network have a system to proficiently manage a large quantity of calls, emails and cases. They also have systems in place to choose the cases they want, enter case information, conduct the intake meeting, and bill ARAG. It’s really about attorneys working smarter versus harder.
• Be intentional about the areas of law that you choose to provide legal services for with a legal plan. Some attorneys pick several areas of law on our network and then get frustrated when we send cases their way that they do not want. By only selecting the areas you wish to serve you will ensure that ARAG (and our plan members) are not contacting you regarding case types you don’t want to serve. This decreases the time and effort or you and your staff to communicate back and forth with a client you don’t want to represent.

If you are interested in hearing more from the State of the Industry Panel, participating in charting GLSA’s new course sessions, and learning more about how legal and subscription-based plans can help your practice, attend the Tampa Bay conference this May 9th to 11th — more information available here. Registration is open now and there are limited tickets here.

The Future of the GLSA: Charting a New Course – Part IV

In our fourth installment of our weekly series on the future of the GLSA, we will hear from attorney Chuong Bui, of Counsel for Creators, a subscription-based law firm based in California. Chuong is a new panelist on the State of the Industry Panel, featured last month in Law Technology Today.

What is the single most important change to the legal profession that must happen to improve access to justice or legal services?

Chuong: The profession must be willing to experiment with new business models and offerings. Legal help must be “productized” in a way that gives consumers a focused solution to a particular legal problem. Lawyers need to think beyond simply offering services and consider how their expertise can be leveraged in a variety of ways.

Beyond that, serious changes to various ethical rules must be considered. As of this writing, lawyers are completely forbidden from using many of the tools that other startups use to grow. For instance, they cannot raise capital from non-attorneys, which leaves the whole sector underinvested. This is a huge problem that throttles innovation.

How does your firm improve access to justice? 

Chuong: We have been able to help hundreds of small businesses who need straightforward legal guidance but don’t want to deal with the trouble and expense of hiring a traditional attorney. Many of our clients have hired us for just $95 per month and received proper legal direction that would have taken hundreds or even thousands of dollars in the past.

How can attorneys make more money using your company or plan? 

Chuong: Right now, our company works only with a limited number of attorneys as we ensure that our product is robust. In the future, we will provide opportunities for attorneys with specific subject-matter expertise to make consistent income without having to deal with any of the administrative overhead. Additionally, as the law firm with the longest-running legal subscription program, we are uniquely positioned to help other firms implement this model successfully.

If you are interested in hearing more from the State of the Industry Panel, participating in charting GLSA’s new course workshops, and learning more about how legal and subscription-based plans can help your practice, attend the Tampa Bay conference this May 9th to 11th more information available here. Registration is open now and there are limited tickets here.

The Future of the GLSA: Charting a New Course – Part III

In our third installment of our weekly series on the future of the GLSA, we will hear from Allen Rodriguez, founder of ONE400 and the moderator for the State of the Industry Panel, featured last month in Law Technology Today. Allen has been a member of GLSA for several years and serves on the Board.

Where do you see the GLSA in 3 years?

Allen: I believe the GLSA will be a leader in subscription-based legal services solutions. This will not only include traditional legal plans but also include technology-based solutions like AI (artificial intelligence) supported document automation, bots, limited scope automated solutions and more.

What is the single most important change to the legal profession that must happen to improve access to justice or legal services?

Allen: Modify the model rules so that more lawyers can unleash innovation without worry of getting in trouble with the bar. Additionally, embracing the subscription model will help significantly as well as it decreases the barrier of entry (cost of legal services) and allows firms to operate at scale.

How does your company improve access to justice?

Allen: I personally am part of the California State Bar Association Access Through Innovation of Legal Services Task Force where we are working to recommend changes to the Rules of Professional Conduct so that technology may play a greater role in A2J. Additionally, ONE400 has created several technologies that support legal plans and other technologies that improve the delivery of legal services, reduce their costs and improve access to such services online. All of this with the aim of passing along those efficiencies to the end user.

How can attorneys make more money using your company or plan?

Allen: We can help attorneys adopt the subscription model and deploy the appropriate technology for supporting it. They, in turn, will move from a transactional revenue practice to one that generates steady, predictable, recurring revenue. They will also lower the barrier of entry for the end user and will be able to increase revenues and create steady growth by moving more volume efficiently.

If you are interested in hearing more from the State of the Industry Panel, participating in charting GLSA’s new course sessions, and learning more about how legal and subscription-based plans can help your practice, attend the Tampa Bay conference this May 9th to 11th more information available here. Registration is open now and there are limited tickets here.

The Future of the GLSA: Charting a New Course – Part II

In our second installment of our weekly series on the future of the GLSA, we will hear from the speakers on the State of the Industry Panel, recently featured in Law Technology Today. First up is Jorge Newbery, the CEO of a new legal plan, Debt Cleanse, who joined GLSA recently.

Where do you see the GLSA in 3 years?

Jorge: GLSA would rebrand itself the ALSA “Affordable Legal Services Association” and be the trade group for legal practitioners and innovators whose mission is to make justice affordable for all Americans. We would embrace the use of technology and share the resulting cost savings with the 99%. As a group, we lobby to end short-sighted practices which are protectionist , i.e. follow the District of Columbia’s lead in allowing law firms to include non-attorney partners and end state laws which require lawyers to conduct certain types of work, such as the Illinois requirement that lawyers handle real estate closings, which could readily be handled by non-lawyers. Although these practices may result in enhanced earnings in the short-term, these feed to the public perception that lawyers do not contribute a lot to our society. We need to help change that.

What is the single most important change to the legal profession that must happen to improve access to justice or legal services?

Jorge: Affordability. Money buys justice in our country today. The majority of consumers and small business owners are legally bullied by the elite of our country. We need to change that.

How does your company improve access to justice? 

Jorge: We connect consumers and small businesses struggling with unaffordable debts with affordable attorneys who want to help people. Many of our plan attorneys are working from home or modest offices and their lower overhead results in lower fees. Further, our strategies enhance the ability of members to pay their attorneys, and our technology maximizes the efficiencies of their interactions, saving time and reducing fees. Finally, we do all the marketing, so attorneys discount fees to our members by 25%.

How can attorneys make more money using your company or plan? 

Jorge: We provide plan attorneys marketing, training, technology and tools so that they can spend more hours on billable legal work, rather than on non-billable marketing, administration, and other non-core functions. Best of all, we provide the platform for many attorneys to do what they went to law school to do: help people.

If you are interested in hearing more from the State of the Industry Panel, participating in charting GLSA’s new course, and learning more about how legal and subscription-based plans can help your practice, attend the Tampa Bay conference this May 9th to 11th more information available here. Registration is open now and there are limited Early Bird tickets here.