Every day, attorneys talk to people who need help with something they don’t handle. Or who can’t afford to hire them. In the past, all you could do was turn them away and wish them good luck. Today, instead of turning them away, many attorneys sign them up for a legal plan. The client gets some help and the attorney gets paid a commission.
I’ve been doing this for years. It doesn’t take a lot of time. You’re speaking with them anyway. All you have to do is send them to your legal plan web site to get information. If they sign up for a plan, you get paid.
Several companies offer legal plans, but there’s only one that I recommend. It’s called LegalShield, and they are the leader in the industry. I’ve had their Membership for many years and use it all the time. I chose to affiliate with LegalShield instead of other companies for several reasons:
- They’ve been in the business over 40 years and are available in 49 states and 4 Canadian Provinces
- They offer plans for consumers and small businesses; their plans are also offered as an employee benefit at tens of thousands of companies
- All areas of the law are covered; all legal services are provided to Members for free or at a 25% discount
- Their plan covers the entire family for as little as $25/mo. A small business can get coverage for as little as $39/mo.
- They are the only company with a “closed system” (i.e., not referrals); this allows them to maintain quality control
- Nearly all of their provider law firms are AV-rated
- They also offer one of the best identity theft protection plans available
Over the years, I’ve referred hundreds of people who have signed up for a LegalShield plan, including a lot of lawyers. It’s a great value. Even if you don’t want to sell the plans you should consider getting a plan to protect your family and law practice.
How much can you earn doing this? You can earn a few hundred to a few thousand dollars a month on a casual basis, simply by referring people to your LegalShield website. Or, if you put some time and effort into it, you can earn a six-figure income, as many attorneys (and I) have done.
The best part is that commissions are residual–you get paid every year the client renews their Membership. Residual income allows you to build a retirement income. That’s something that really appealed to me. Although I earned a lot of money as an attorney, I knew I wasn’t putting away enough cash for retirement. My LegalShield business will provide me with that retirement income.
My first month as a marketing Associate with LegalShield I signed up a few people and earned an extra $300. No, not a lot of money, but by my fifth month, I was earning an extra $3000 a month on a part-time basis. Within a few years, I was earning more in my “little side business” than many attorneys earn in their full-time job or practice.
I didn’t earn all that money myself, however. I signed up a lot of lawyers who heard what I was doing and wanted to do it, too. The company pays me a percentage of all the business they sign up (an override). The lawyers I signed up signed up other lawyers, as well as insurance agents and brokers, real estate and mortgage brokers, financial planners, business owners, their clients and personal friends, and as this network grew, so did my income.
You can do the same thing.
Some attorneys want to know if this represents a conflict of interest. My answer is two-fold. First, check with your bar association or legal society regarding possible ethical issues. I’ve signed up attorneys in over 45 states so the answer will probably be “no conflict” but you must check this for yourself.
The second part of my answer involves a de facto conflict of interest: if you sign people up for a legal plan, they may use the plan instead of hiring you. This may or may not be true.
Some attorneys only show the plan to people they otherwise would be turning away. Some show it to their clients after the initial engagement is completed. Some offer it to prospective clients in states or provinces where they aren’t licensed. Other attorneys show it to everyone, trusting that their relationship with their clients, the personal touch (that no legal plan attorney can match) will result in the client staying with them for their primary practice area. Their clients use the plan for little things the attorney doesn’t want to handle.
The way I look at it, someone is going to sign them up for a plan. It might as well be me.
So, there you have it. You can earn extra income signing up people who don’t hire you, you can earn passive income by signing up attorneys and other professionals who want to offer these plans to their clients, and you can build a retirement income for yourself.
If you’re interested in getting more information, click here to see my LegalShield website. If you like what you see, contact me. I’ll answer your questions and tell you more about how other attorneys and I have built a successful LegalShield business. If you want to get started and work with me, I’ll help you do that, too.
David M. Ward
david[@]attorneymarketing.com
P.S. Here’s a video I recorded that tells you more:
