New Study Shows Need, Demand for Legal Services By Working Americans and Families

Study Identifies Cost and Confusion as Barriers to Getting Needed Legal Help

By LegalShield

Published: Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2012 - 5:11 am

DALLAS, Nov. 27, 2012 -- DALLAS, Nov. 27, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- A new nationwide study released today by LegalShield shows that working Americans and their families face a broad array of legal issues daily but only infrequently seek out help due to the cost, confusion and hassle of dealing with the legal system.  Even for serious legal events such as divorce, IRS audits, DWI/DUI arrests, real estate purchase, identity theft, or the death of a spouse without a will, an alarming number of Americans are forgoing the legal help they need to protect themselves and their families.
The survey shows 57 million of full-time working Americans experienced at least one significant legal event in the past 12 months, but only 60 percent of those who experienced such an event actually sought out the services of a lawyer to help them.  The rest said they were "hesitant" or "dread" calling a lawyer because they are too hard to find, cost too much and are "difficult" and "intimidating" to work with.
"Our research shows what we've known intuitively for a long time – many Americans don't believe they can get the legal help they need to protect themselves and their families," said Rip Mason, CEO of LegalShield.  "Too many people believe they have to go at it alone and hope for the best when it comes to dealing with all but the most serious legal issues.  Fortunately, that's not the case.  Americans just need to become more aware of the options – such as a LegalShield plan – that guarantees they have access to help from qualified attorneys no matter how serious or trivial the issue."
The survey findings show that when barriers to access and cost are removed or reduced, Americans are more likely seek out the counsel of an attorney.  Ninety-one percent of respondents said they would seek the help of a lawyer for even the most trivial issue – such as the review of a rental agreement – if their services were easier to access and more affordable.  Two-thirds of respondents said they found their lawyer randomly online or through some sort of advertising and had little information about their qualifications or experience.  They also said they paid an average of $284 an hour for the services of a lawyer.
"It's not that American's don't believe that they need legal help, they're just not sure that the benefit outweighs the cost or the hassle," Mason said.  "That why it's important to remove the negative cost/benefit assumption from the equation.  With LegalShield, members pay as little as $17 a month to get unlimited access to dedicated accomplished law firms who are staffed with experienced lawyers specializing in the areas of law that impact American families the most."
Despite the benefits of legal plans such as LegalShield, only 10 percent of respondents said they are covered by any sort of legal service program.
"More and more employers are looking at legal plans as part of their voluntary benefits package. They see it as a way to address absenteeism associated with the legal problem employees experience in their lives," Mason said.  "Our study showed that 66 percent of workers who experienced a legal issue had to take time off from work to deal with it.  The survey also shows that employees who were covered by a legal protection plan are happier, have greater peace of mind and are more focused on their work.
Methodology This study of full-time employees in the U.S. was conducted over the Internet.  A national probability sample of males and females aged 18 to 64 was drawn from American Consumer Opinion® Online, Decision Analyst's worldwide panel of over eight million consumers.  The sample was balanced by geography and selected demographics, such as gender, age, ethnicity, and household income.  Panelists were invited by email to the screening survey, and those employed full-time were invited to Decision Analyst's DAISurvey™ website to participate in the study.  A total of 1,000 interviews were completed online from September 20 through September 26, 2012.
About LegalShield LegalShield is the only national legal safeguard to provide its members with access to quality legal services from an accomplished law firm in the U.S. and Canada for legal advice and assistance as much as they want no matter how trivial or serious the issue.  For as low as $17 per month, LegalShield members get access to qualified attorneys who are experts in the areas of law that most impact families and small businesses.  Founded in 1972 in Ada, Oklahoma, LegalShield has more than 1.4 million members and dedicated law firms in 49 states across the U.S. and four provinces in Canada.  The company's website is www.legalshield.com.  

Article provided by;

Richard Figley
Independent Associate
614-832-3414
www.legalbenefitscentralohio.com
www.wealthcreationbiz.com

 

 

 

Success is not the result of spontaneous combustion.  

You must set yourself on fire. 

 

~Unknown

 

 

 

Richard Figley

Independent Associate

614-832-8330 

Legal Benefits

Opportunity

 

My Animoto Video

Bringing Affordable Access to Top Quality Law Firms to Families throughout the United States My Animoto Video

Rich Figley, Independent Associate

614-395-2313

www.LegalBenefitsCentralOhio.com

Protect Your Small Business from Identity Theft

 

Ensure Protection From Identity Theft in Your Small Business

By Scott Siders on July 8th, 2012 

By Linda Vincent

Consumer identity theft is in the news every day, and for good reason: consumers are the fastest growing victims of identity theft. They often become victims as a direct result of small businesses not safeguarding their personal information. From exposed credit card information at a restaurant to easily accessible patient records at a physician’s office, small businesses need to keep sensitive data under lock and key to provide identity theft protection.

Are you one of those small businesses ignoring identity theft threats? If so, you are putting your business at serious risk. In addition to the countless revenue you will lose when customers flee to your competitors, you may also face costly lawsuits that can literally put you out of business.

Many small business owners like you are so busy serving your customers’ needs that you forget to protect the data that makes you vulnerable to hackers, data breaches, and even employee identity theft. To avoid small business identity theft, you must take every possible precaution to ensure that you, the company, the employees, and your customers have protection from identity theft.

There are many proven strategies to prevent small business identity theft, and there are a couple of basic rules: 1) identify and implement security strategies to physically protect business information and customers’ private data, and 2) ensure that computer networks are virtually protected against data breaches that can result in identity theft.

Let’s take a closer look at some of the questions you should be asking yourself if you want to ensure your business’ protection from identity theft:

• How safe are your business records? Start by thinking about the simple things like access to filing cabinets, and then look at the much larger issue of virtual filing cabinets—which includes all of the private information you’ve collected on your customers and employees. How easy is it for anyone to login and walk away with information that could put your business at risk?
• Do you have alarms and locks on your physical premises? It may sound obvious, but many small businesses have not invested in basic systems to provide protection from Identity Theft. The first step is hiring a security company to install and begin monitoring all possible entryways of your business.
• Are you shredding everything? Emphasize the importance of shredding all documents that contain customers’ personal data. Employees need to understand that any piece of stolen personal information can be used against the business in the event of a lawsuit due to negligence. Consider placing only one regular trash bin near the workstations and put shredders next to every station to promote the destruction of customer information.
• Are you helping a hacker? One of the many small business identity theft threats is hacking because, in many cases, it’s the easiest way to steal information. Unless your company has protection from identity theft by using a secure firewall, you are inviting an intruder to slyly slip into your network, take everything, and then sell it on the black market.
• Who has access to your computers? Your computer network is the lifeblood of your business, so you need to make sure it is password protected and that the most private, identifiable information is safeguarded. Think about who really requires access to the network. A receptionist needs far less access than a manager.

Learn more about preventing identity theft in your small business by visiting www.ID-TheftProtection.com or calling 614.395.2313

Richard Figley

Independent Associate

figleyr@legalshield.com

www.richardfigley.com

Louisville man orders iPods in Bank Customers Names

Louisville man charged with identity theft for allegedly ordering iPods in the name of PNC Bank customers

7:19 PM, Jul 3, 2012   

Andrew M. Halsell / Louisville Metropolitan Department of Corrections

A Louisville man who worked for a cleaning crew at PNC Bank placed online orders in the names of bank customers, then waited outside their homes to pick up the goods when they were delivered, police said.
Andre Halsell, 27, of the 9700 block of Streamview Trail, was charged with defrauding merchants out of nearly $4,600 worth of merchandise, according to an arrest warrant. Eight people have been victimized since Jan. 1, police said.
One victim reported that someone used his name, date of birth and social security number to open fraudulent accounts and order iPods from online stores Fingerhut.com and Gettington.com, according to an arrest citation.
Halsell admitted to taking documents with personal information from PNC Bank, then setting up lines of credit with online stores, according to police records. The records said he then sold the iPods on Craigslist.
Halsell, who knew the victims’ addresses, would go to their houses and wait for orders to arrive via UPS, said Sgt. Melissa Mottley, the commander of the LMPD fraud unit.
Most of the addresses were in the area of the Cloverleaf neighborhood east of Dixie Highway and south of the Watterson Expressway.
Halsell tried to intercept the packages, posing as one of the victims or a relative, and asking UPS delivery workers to give him the packages, Mottley said. She said if he was unable to intercept the driver, Halsell would go to the UPS centers in an attempt to pick up the packages.
Mottley said Halsell couldn’t provide proper identification to UPS workers and was never able to retrieve any of the packages. She said one of the UPS drivers noticed Halsell’s suspicious behavior and called police.
He was arrested Tuesday afternoon and charged with 11 counts of identity theft and one count of theft by deception. He was being held Tuesday at Louisville Metro Corrections in lieu of $1,500 bail.
Police said they do not know if Halsell was working alone, and the investigation is still ongoing. Police referred questions about how Halsell allegedly found the personal information about the victims to PNC Bank.
Fred Solomon, a PNC spokesman, said “PNC’s policies are to secure customer information in a locked receptacle.” He would not comment further, saying it could jeopardize the police investigation.

Reporter Alex Orlando can be reached at (502) 582-4336.

 Richard Figley

Independent Associate
614.395.2313
figleyr@legalshield.com
www.richardfigley.com

 

 

SMALL BUSINESS LEGAL ISSUES: FAILURE TO COLLECT PAYMENTS TOPS THE LIST

Small Business

Rocket Lawyer's recent small business survey offered up some interesting insight on what is going with small businesses. The survey provides excellent information as to why small business owners take the plunge to begin with and then explores the obstacles they face thereafter. What’s particular interesting is that over HALF of these small business owners had legal issues in the last year and of those owners, 11.9% had legal issues that involved failing to collect late payments.

Take a look at what’s going on inside small business owners heads.

SMALL BUSINESS LEGAL ISSUES: FAILURE TO COLLECT PAYMENTS TOPS THE LIST

 

If the collection of payments has become a problem for your business, we can help...
 find your Legal Business Plan HERE


Richard Figley
Independent Associate
614.395.2313
figleyr@legalshield.com
www.richardfigley.com
www.ID-TheftProtection.com