Last Updated on May 4, 2022
Is Legal Shield a pyramid scheme? Let’s face it, legal services nowadays can cost you a lot. Legal Shield comes to the rescue as they give you legal services whenever you need for an affordable cost of just $19.95 per month. Sounds good, right?
However, we are not going to focus on that. For a lot of years, Legal Shield has been called out for being a pyramid scheme in disguise. It has been called a scam by unsatisfied customers, as well.
Is there a truth to this that we do not know about? Is what everybody says about Legal Shield true?
Legal Shield claims that you should worry less and live more. They say being a member of their pyramid will give you the key to financial freedom. Should you take the bait and believe their words?
I already dissected Legal Shield just for you and answered the questions you’ve been dying to know the answers for.
In this Legal Shield review, we are going to answer the question, ‘Is Legal Shield a pyramid scheme?’. I am also going to tell you what Legal Shield is all about, how it works, and if it will really give you financial freedom and a sustainable source of income.
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What is Legal Shield?
The goal of Legal Shield is to give everyone the chance to gain access to an attorney, an affordable one. With just a subscription fee of $19.95 per month, this is the only legal services everyone can afford.
Legal Shield actually goes way back. It was started back in 1976, but it wasn’t always the Legal Shield we all know. It used to go by the name Pre-Paid Legal. However, when this was bought by MidOcean Partners back in 2012, they changed its name to Legal Shield.
Why was it rebranded, you ask? Well, the company was receiving tons of customer complaints and law suits. This was a chance for them to kind of start over and get away from all the hate.
There are more subscription plans you can choose from. Bottom line, the more you pay, the more legal services will be accessible to you.
Now that we scratched the surface, let’s dive deeper into Legal Shield.
Legal Shield is a multi-level marketing company. If you are new to this concept, don’t worry! I will explain to you later on.
With this in mind, Legal Shield promises you a future wherein you wouldn’t have to worry anymore and make the most out of your life, not just through their services but also through the business opportunity they offer.
How Does Legal Shield Work?
It is definitely understandable why you would doubt Legal Shield and ask the question, ‘Is Legal Shield a pyramid scheme?’ There are a lot of MLM companies out there. Pyramid schemes? Not so much. However, there are a lot of pretend MLM companies, meaning that they are indeed pyramid schemes hiding in the form of an MLM.
Now hold on, what are MLMs and pyramid schemes?
MLMs are companies that derive their cash flow from two factors: the products and the recruits. All of these happen in the pyramid structure.
When you sign up to be a member of the company, you have two responsibilities, and that is to sell the product and to sell the business opportunity to other people by means of recruiting. The higher you are on the pyramid, the more products you sell, and the more people you recruit will give you more income.
A pyramid scheme, on the other hand, does not gain income from the products they sell. Why? It’s because they have none of it. The only source of their cash flow are the fees the recruits pay when they join the pyramid.
Oh, and another thing, pyramid schemes are illegal. There are only few pyramid schemes out there now, and that’s just because they haven’t been caught yet. But if they were, they would have been shut down by FTC a long time ago.
Legal Shield follows the structure of an MLM company. They sell affordable legal services to people, and they recruit people to sell these products that will also make their own team of recruits. From there on, the pyramid will become narrower at the top, and the bottom will be a growing mass of people.
Joining Legal Shield means you would have to pay an enrollment fee of $149. This price will enable you to become a Legal Shield associate. This fee will also cover any License Application fee. Take note that this varies across states.
Why would you even need a License Application Fee? Well, Legal Shield explains that this will enable you to promote their legal services and recruit other people within the premises of the law.
That’s not all though. There will also be conferences and events that you will have to attend. This will cost you at least $150.
And sorry, but travel expenses are not included. Add all these up and you would have to pay up to $300. Damn son.
The money you pay gets passed on to the higher stages of the pyramid. The money you make from your personal sales will slowly make its way to the top, as well. Lastly, the money your recruits will make shall be passed on to you and up again to the penthouse.
That’s the cycle you are going to have to live with if you are contemplating and planning to join Legal Shield.
Making Money with Legal Shield
Personal Sales
Being in the field of MLM companies means that you would have to be a charismatic person. You would need to have charisma and marketing skills to sell legal plans to those around you. Once you have sold a plan, you will receive 20% commission from that. Per month, you will also get paid $3.99 commission.
Renewal Bonus
A little cherry on top will be rewarded to you once you convince a paying customer to renew their legal plan after 12 months for the first month of a new plan.
Extra Bonuses
You will earn points every time a customer signs up under you, and every time you recruit other people. These points can be saved and used for special trips, discounts, contests, promotions and other deals.
Team Commissions
Of course, you will also gain income from the percentage of commissions your recruits will be earning. The question is, how much will you earn?
This brings us to the next section.
Legal Shield Compensation Plan
Just like any other MLMs, Legal Shield also has its own commission structure. These structures are composed of ranks, wherein the higher your rank is, the higher the amount of money you will earn. To know the answer to the question ‘Is Legal Shield a pyramid scheme?’, let’s take a closer look at these ranks below.
Junior Associate
When you join Legal Shield, you will naturally start at the bottom of the pyramid. The bottom of the pyramid are the Junior Associates. So, what do you have to do while you’re down there?
You would have to sell at least five personal sales. Then, you will earn $50 per sale. That’s actually not so bad, is it?
Associate
As you progress your way to the top, you would have to be an Associate first. Being an Associate means you could earn $75 per sale. Here, you would have to sell at least three legal plans. You are now eligible to have one personal recruit of yours.
Fortunately, there is another way for to reach this level. If you don’t want to do all the work yourself, you need to recruit two people. Plus, for the first 30 days of their membership, they need to have at least five sales.
That doesn’t sound so pleasant to your recruit, but at least you do not have to do the legwork.
Senior Associate
To be named a Senior Associate, you would have to recruit three junior associates, and they have to be active, not just sitting idly by. You would also need to have at least 30 total organization sales. Combine your sales and the sales of your team, that’s organizational sales in a nutshell. Being a Senior Associate will give you $100 per sale. Nice!
Manager
To level up to this position, at least three of your recruits would have to now be an active Associate, not a Junior Associate. This is crucial because, at this stage, you need to be hands-on with your recruits. You have to make them level up from Junior Associates to Associates, and that’s going to take a lot of time and effort.
Also, you would need to have 100 total organizations. The effort is worth it since you will be making $125 per sale. Well, don’t mind me if I do!
Director
Being a Director means you need to have three active Senior Associates. Hold on to the edge of your seats because here, you would need to make a total of 200 organization sales. You would be making $150 per sale.
Executive Director
Everyone wants to be at the penthouse. I know that you want to reach the peak of the mountain, in which you have worked so hard to climb. As an Executive Director, you are at the top of the pyramid. Gone are the days that each sale would earn you just $50. Here, you can earn up to $182.50 per sale.
Before you can reach the cherry on top, you would need to achieve 50 personal sales, and no, not organizational sales. This makes sense. When you are going higher and near the peak of the mountain, you would have to eventually let go of what weighs you down.
So what I am trying to say is, you are alone. Yeah, that’s the sad truth.
For further information, refer to the video below.
Things You Should Worry About Legal Shield
Crappy Legal Services
I won’t use fancy words to cover up the truth regarding Legal Shield. The legal services they offer are crap in its purest form. Basic Economics teaches us that price is an indicator of the quality of the product. Although this case is not always true, Legal Shield is an exception.
Of course, legal services are expensive nowadays. Then, Legal Shield just casually shows up claiming to give you affordable legal services without having to worry about anything at all. Who wouldn’t want that? Right?
Apparently, there are a lot of complaints against Legal Shield.
For one thing, if lawyers feel like you are a lost cause, they won’t accept you. They only take winning cases. Like what the hell? How is that legal service at all?
There are also inaccuracies on important documents like user and will agreements. This might not seem like a big deal, but inside the court it is.
If you have bad health conditions, have a criminal record, and getting divorced, Legal Shield will not cover you with that. You can though but will have to pay extra.
This all smells like a capitalist attempt to suck money out of your wallet.
Way Harder Than You Think
Perhaps you might be thinking that working for an MLM is a one way ticket to a sustainable source of income. All you have to do is convince people to buy the product and convince people to join you.
I am here to slap you the truth. No, it is not.
A job like that will stress you out and the people around you. Especially in the case of Legal Shield. How many people in your life would need legal services unless they are on the verge of going to jail?
It is not a service you could casually offer to everyone. A certain person would have to desperately need it and come forward to you.
All for Nothing
Oh, and since the services are crap, this will also have a toll on your MLM ventures. The services are crap, and customers are not happy. Naturally, subscribers would have to cancel their plans.
Statistics show that 50% of customers cancel the plan within the first 12 months.
This is bad because if that happens, you would have to return the commissions you received back to the company. I don’t know who came up with that idea, but it is plain stupid.
As you would have guessed, you will be left with nothing.
High Startup Costs
MLMs are commonly known for this, and Legal Shield is no exception. You are going to pay a lot for some licenses and conferences, and that money will just be passed on to the top of the pyramid-like a basketball.
Low-Income Return
You would think that it is okay to pay a lot, as long as you will have a fair return of income. That is not the case at all with Legal Shield. Not only are you paying a lot to start, but you will be given little to nothing return in profit.
If you do not believe, let history say it all.
If you would take a peek at the 2015 Legal Shield’s Earnings Disclosure, it states there that an average associate with less than 2 years experience will make a grand total of $875 for a single year.
Also, statistics indicate that 83% of all associates regardless of rank, made less than a thousand dollars in 2015.
That is such a small amount for all the effort, stress, money, and time you spent for everything.
Peer Pressure
Pursuing a career as a representative of an MLM company is like walking on thin ice. There are no guarantees at all.
In the case of Legal Shield, you will feel like there is a clock ticking before the bomb explodes.
The fine print of Legal Shield indicates that you would have to make at least 3 sales every 3 months so that you will qualify to receive team commissions.
This is especially more pressuring since 75% of all the associates fail to sell more than one plan due to the crappy services.
If you don’t, you will lose your team, and so will all the commissions your team will receive in the future. All those, gone in a snap.
That might be more painful than Thanos’ snap.
Might Be Crossing the Line
There has always been a line between MLMs and pyramid schemes. However, it is a very thin line. We have distinguished MLMs and pyramid schemes before.
But today, there are still pyramid schemes hiding behind the mask of an MLM. What do I mean by that? It means that they do have products to sell, but companies like these focus more on their recruitment aspect.
Based on our distinction, Legal Shield is an MLM. But, how can we be so sure that they are not blurring that line?
Their services are not of best quality like what they have claimed. This gives us the impression that they are not spending time on improving their products.
Since that is the case, where does all the time they have go to? Do they spend most of their time just focusing on the recruitment program?
Just like how they do in court, you be the judge.
What I Like About Legal Shield
This is a first to me. I actually have nothing I like about this one. I would like to force myself and say that I like the affordable pricing for a legal service.
But let’s be honest here, would you rather go for affordable price and sacrifice quality? Or would you rather spend a few more bucks and receive good quality service?
If you are anything near sanity, you would choose the latter. So, yeah, I am not in favor of the less than $20 a month price scheme.
Everything else in terms of the recruitment program is just a disaster for me.
Conclusion: Is Legal Shield a Pyramid Scheme?
No, Legal Shield is not a pyramid scheme. They meet all the criteria of a legit MLM company. They have legit services to sell, unlike a pyramid scheme. These products are just not as what they promised it would be.
I suggest you take my advice and spend a few more dollars on another legal services provider that will actually give you the best quality.
Does Legal Shield blur the line between an MLM and a pyramid scheme? Again, that I don’t know. I want you to decipher all the information I laid to you and derive your own judgment out of it.
In terms of the recruitment aspect, I do not recommend it to someone who really wants to be on the road to financial freedom. Legal Shield will only trick you to spend hundreds of dollars to leave you with little to nothing return in profit. Every cent of your commissions will eventually be taken away from you when a customer cancels a plan, and you will lose your team in time once you have run out of sweet lies to tell to people.
This is not a sustainable source of income. You will just be left with nothing in the end.
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