LegalShield

Name: LegalShield
Rating: 3.3

3.3

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267 User Reviews

4.1

Overall Score

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3.3

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267 User Reviews

4.1

Overall Score

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The Good

The Bad

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Company Details

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Time in Business

53 Years

Company Headquarters

One Pre-Paid Way, Ada, Oklahoma 74820

Number of Reviews 267

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Author: Kaitlyn Short

LAST UPDATED: March 26th, 2025

LegalShield is a legal service provider that works with a network of law firms throughout the United States and Canada. The company aims to modernize legal services by offering monthly membership plans that give consumers access to qualified and experienced lawyers 24/7 for help with legal issues.

Prepaid Legal changed its name to LegalShield in September 2011.

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The Good

Partnered with Reputable Firms
Monthly Memberships
Affordable Legal Plans
Nearly Instant Access to Services
MEMBERPerks

Partnered with Reputable Firms

LegalShield is not a law firm and does not employ lawyers. Instead, the company has built long-standing partnerships with law firms from every state and throughout Canada.

Instead of hiring one attorney who only practices a specific type of law, LegalShield's membership plans give you access to an entire law firm. Ensuring you are matched with an experienced attorney to handle your immediate legal needs.

This benefits consumers because you get coverage for various legal issues for one affordable monthly payment. With more traditional legal services, you pay hundreds by the hour for a lawyer who can only help with one specific problem.

Monthly Memberships

LegalShield's memberships give you unlimited access to legal assistance or advice. The company offers three membership plans that provide a variety of coverage.

The Individual and Families Plan includes help with estate planning (last will and testament, power of attorney, trusts, etc.) traffic assistance, tax audit services, document reviews, etc. There are even a few add-ons such as gun owners supplement, ride share and delivery supplement, trial defense supplement, and home business supplement.

The Small Business Plan includes assistance with tax audit services, designated consultations, collection letters, etc.

The Start a Business Plan offers features such as LLC formation, business name check, collection letters, obtaining an LLC Federal Tax ID, and more.

We appreciate LegalShield offering three different plans to consumers, as it provides valuable legal information and coverage to individuals and their families, small businesses, and start-up companies.

Affordable Legal Plans

The cost of LegalShield will depend on which type of plan you choose. A personal legal membership generally costs $29.95 a month, but the price may vary depending on where you live.

Small business plans start at $49 per month. And the start-up business plan costs $149 plus state filing fees.

The company has a 25 percent discount off your lawyer's hourly rate if you require additional legal services outside your LegalShield coverage. The average cost for independent lawyers ranges from $100 to $400, so a 25 percent discount is a good deal.

Nearly Instant Access to Services

LegalShield doesn't force consumers to wait a week before they can start using their plan benefits. In most cases, you can contact your attorney as soon as your membership application is reviewed and your account is set up. The company states that this generally takes about 12 to 24 hours (or less on regular business days).

MEMBERPerks

Something unique to LegalShield is the company's MEMBERPerks. Members can save up to 50 percent on big-name brands such as Verizon, Costco, and Amazon. The company website doesn't offer much more information on its perks program, so we recommend asking about this just to ensure you are receiving the full benefits of being a member.

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The Bad

Limited Control

Limited Control

If you choose to work with LegalShield, you have to be willing to give up a little bit of control.

Because of the way LegalShield operates, you do not have a say in which law firm represents you. You also don't get a say in who your lawyer will be.

LegalShield does its best to find an attorney qualified to handle your case, but it might not always be the perfect fit. You can request to work with another attorney, but you'll have to consider their availability and areas of expertise.

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The Bottom Line

LegalShield offers a unique approach to helping people afford legal assistance and services.

As with most subscription services, you need to consider how often you'll be using the services. If you think you will use LegalShield's services repeatedly, it's worth it. If you only plan on using the services once in a blue moon, then a monthly subscription might not be the best choice. However, the low monthly payment and 25 percent discount off your lawyer's hourly rate may be handy in an emergency.

Legal Shield is a subscription service, and you can cancel your subscription anytime. If you find yourself in a bind, you can pay the $29.95 for the month and receive unlimited advice and access to an attorney and law firm, which could cost thousands of dollars with an independent lawyer. Once your legal issue has been resolved, you can cancel your membership.

Additionally, LegalShield not only saves you money but time. Instead of spending hours of research into reputable law firms and searching for experienced, qualified attorneys, LegalShield has done all the leg work for you. The company has partnered with over 39 law firms and employs over 900 lawyers with a vast array of expertise and experience.

Perhaps the biggest disadvantage of working with LegalShield is that you have to give up some control. With this company, you have to work with the partnered law firm in your state and one of their attorneys. You don't have a choice in which law firm represents you. Additionally, you may have to work with a different attorney from the firm on every case.

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User Reviews

Star Rating

3.3

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267 Reviews

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Trish Welland, ON

I'm not sure how to feel about LegalShield because it turns out that the only real benefit to a person (rather than for a business owner) is that it's cheaper to purchase some forms than to obtain the same forms through other avenues. I can see it being an immensely beneficial service for 'regulars' in trouble with the law (like for speeding and parking tickets) but otherwise, the rest of us can get the EXACT same service (pathway advice given by bonafide lawyers) for FREE. So here's how I see it currently: - Pay $29/month to have ACCESS TO ADVICE rarely sought. Add up the number of times that I'd NEED advice, within a 12 month timeframe, and I've spent $348. or - Phone the FREE service for advice and spend the money it costs ONLY for the forms I would require. So say that's 3-4 forms at 70-100 per (rough estimate). I'd be paying the same, less, or slightly more, than one full year of membership with THIS service. WITH this service, I'd be paying the $348/year PLUS forms (if the forms themselves are not free through this service). The lawyer I spoke with, himself, was very kind and thorough in his questions. I forget his name (I'm awful with names) but I would recommend him, certainly. So for him, I will give two stars. One star is because I can see the benefit of the service. Three stars and not Five because there is a free service elsewhere in Canada with lawyers who advise you on what avenues you can take to resolve whatever your issue is- which seems to be the same purpose as this service provides.

2 years ago

Reply from LegalShield

Trish, thank you for your feedback. We're disappointed that you feel our services did not meet your needs. Our experienced network of provider lawyers is dedicated to assisting our members with their legal issues. They will work diligently to provide you with the appropriate legal advice and actionable steps to take while strictly adhering to our membership contract of benefits.

Understanding your membership benefits is important. We have systems and resources in place for members to notify us if they are not satisfied with the services provided. We encourage all members with questions about their specific membership benefits or service complaints to contact our LegalShield Member Services Team at (800)-654-7757 or via chat at www.legalshield.com between 7-7 CST Monday-Friday, where a team member would be happy to provide support.

Oct. 12th, 2022

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Chuck T Chicago, IL

I signed up when we were dabbling in rental properties. That didn't last too long, so Legalshield was only used for personal matters. Thankfully not a lot of those, but often I had a question on how something would affect my elderly parents, or something else I was associated with, but not a directly personal matter. They wouldn't answer those questions. Also, you can't 'easily' ask a general legal question. The phone screener requires a bunch of information about the person/company you are asking about - "general question" isn't allowed. They also require that you go through all your account and contact information with every new request. Doesn't matter that you just confirmed everything yesterday - have to do it all again if its a new request. A small thing I suppose, but an annoyance. In the end, I didn't get much value from it and cancelled.

3 years ago

Reply from LegalShield

Chuck, thank you for taking the time to share your experience with us. We appreciate your feedback. We're disappointed to hear that you feel our services did not meet your needs. Our providers are committed to assisting our members with their legal matters. They will work diligently to provide you with the appropriate legal advice and actionable steps to take while strictly adhering to our membership contract of benefits. Understanding the full benefits of your LegalShield Membership is important. We have systems and resources in place for members to notify us if they are not satisfied with the services provided. We encourage all members with questions about their specific membership benefits or service complaints to contact our Member Services Team at (800)-654-7757 between 7-7 CST Monday-Friday, where a team member would be happy to provide support.
We want to thank you for your additional feedback on our intake process. We ask members to verify the contact information for each particular consultation request due to a potential partner/spouse utilizing the other's account rather than signing into their own and situations where users may want to use a different contact method. However, we have noted your suggestion and will address it with the appropriate teams as we are always looking for ways to create a better member experience.

Mar. 15th, 2022

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JLE Durham, NC

I'm a longtime member of Legal Shield (over 10 years) but I am reluctant to recommend it because of my experiences. I am dissatisfied with their service of providing attoney advice as a monthly membership. The plan works by allowing you to call a phone number for a local provider firm and then speaking to an attorney by phone about your legal matter and having them perform legal services for you. Don't get me wrong, the plan is a good value for the money and you get a lot. However, it has serious limitations that you need to be aware of if you choose to get it. Here are some problems I have come across. First, you get too much bad legal advice. I had one case where I spoke to attorneys to file two cases against a landlord and a moving services company. Advice was adequate to cover the case filing but they neglected to warn me to file against all of the parties involved. The outcome was that I couldn't collect on the judgement because the moving company didn't have property in its name. Had I questioned the owner and learned of his banks and other business names I could have collected. Case fail. I had another time when a tenant in an apartment complex retaliated against me for complaining to the complex about her noisy children who were loitering in the street outside my apartment. The mother falsely claimed that I was stalking her and the complex decided to get rid of me by filing for eviction on the false claim that I was a stalker. All through that case I followed advice from the provider firm to the letter yet when I was sued and filed to use my legal defense hours benefit the firm rejected my case as unlikely to win. I appealed to the state attorney general for help and the company reversed policy. The supervising attorney was sent to help me and attended the eviction hearing however he seemed to not spend any time on the stalking charge. The mother lied on the stand and the attorney didn't question and discredit her. I lost the case and ended up appealing and settling however it damaged my credit because it showed that the apartment complex filed to evict me. My most recent case was a fraud case. Their service failed to help with this one also. I called several times on this one and did talk to one attorney who was helpful but at it developed their managing attorney almost wrecked it. First, he said that they couldn't review the case because there was a 10 page document review limit. Next they said that they didn't have any attorney specialists that handled this area of law. Third, a supervising attorney told me, without even reviewing the case documents, that the case had no merit. I was able to find attorney specialists on my own but I expected for Merrit Webb to be able to do this for me. I also had a disability insurance case where they referred me to a local attorney. However, this attorney didn't bother to read my doctor's notes and did't strengthen the case by asking me to do a pain and fatigue journal and to have friends and family write letters about how impaired I was because of the condition. The case dragged out four years with a positive conclusion but it was hampered by the lack of initiative of the Legal Shield referral attorney. I've spoken with Legal Shield's corporate office and they have no interest in correcting these problems. Their stance is use the service if you want and if you don't like it then quit.

5 years ago

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ML C-W Belleville, ON

I've used LegalShield for two cases in the last two years. It's a decent option for legal advice considering what you pay. It is frustrating when you need prompt legal advice as it can take three days for them to respond/review. I didn't like how my lawyers were not local to the city I had a case in, this would be ideal as each court house operates differently. I had one lawyer to start, another lawyer would step in, and then the original lawyer left my case with no goodbye.

2 years ago

Reply from LegalShield

Thank you for your feedback. We want to provide some clarification. The provider lawyers in our network are dedicated to assisting our members with their legal issues. They will work diligently to provide you with the appropriate legal advice and actionable steps to take while strictly adhering to our membership contract of benefits. We understand that timing is important for legal matters; that is why we require our provider law firms to abide by our membership contract regulations. This ensures that our members’ concerns are addressed within the expected time.
While we have one main provider for most states, your current provider firm will have more information for any needed referrals. You can reach out to your provider law firm directly with further questions.
We have systems and resources in place for members to notify us if they are not satisfied with the services provided. We encourage all members with questions about their specific membership benefits or service complaints to contact our Member Services Team at (800)-654-7757 or via LegalShield App between 7-7 CST Monday-Friday, where a team member would be happy to provide support. Thank you.

Aug. 23rd, 2022

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Mellissa Clark Palm Bay, FL

A great way to find legal help, but requires a monthly subscription. A very good resource to have but I don’t need legal assistance very often so the subscription was not worth it to me.

1 year ago

Reply from LegalShield

Melissa, thank you for the review. We appreciate your feedback. You are correct; instead of paying a lawyer's expensive hourly fees, you pay a small monthly fee and get access to experienced lawyers that can help you with your legal issue.  With a tap on our LegalShield app, members can speak with a lawyer and receive advice and consultation on legal issues. We give members the help they need now and equip them to protect their future from whatever life throws their way. We hope you consider us again in the future for your legal needs.

May. 4th, 2023

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Jacobk Miami, FL

Didn't meet my expectations! Had to close the account and stop subscription. Basically it;s not what they claim

4 years ago