LegalShield News

LegalShield Names Warren Schlichting Chief Executive Officer

Press Release | 12/5/2022

LegalShield's board of directors named Warren Schlichting chief executive officer. Schlichting was previously executive vice president and chief operating officer of Poly, the former Plantronics and Polycom, and earlier served as president of Sling TV and as an executive vice president at DISH.

Interim chief executive Stefan Pepe, a member of the board, said Schlichting's background makes him the right leader to take the company's products and services to the next level. In addition to financial and operational priorities, Schlichting will be responsible for identifying and integrating new technology and potential acquisitions.

LegalShield and its IDShield identity protection service serve more than 4.8 million members and sell largely through independent associates. The company is based in Ada, Oklahoma.

LegalShield Parent Names Cara Whitley Chief Marketing Officer

Npros.com | 12/10/2021

PPLSI, the parent of LegalShield and IDShield, named Cara Whitley chief marketing officer. She has more than two decades in marketing, branding, partnerships, and business development, including executive roles at large companies and brand work at Century 21.

Chief executive Jeff Bell said her digital, loyalty, and retention experience was the reason for the hire and that she would lead a continued marketing and brand overhaul. She will oversee marketing for the legal and identity brands.

The appointment follows a November expansion that added technology chiefs at the same parent company. Together the two moves refill commercial and technology leadership rather than the chief executive seat.

LegalShield Parent Adds Chief Information and Security Officers

Npros.com | 11/10/2021

PPLSI, the parent of LegalShield and IDShield, expanded its leadership with several executive hires and with first-time roles. The new posts include chief information officer, chief information security officer, senior vice president of software development and engineering, and senior vice president of data engineering.

Chief technology officer Arnold Blinn said the hires were already changing the organization and that the company was building software for members and for law firm partners. The announcement frames the additions as a technology build-out rather than a single replacement.

The release did not name the individual executives in the summary of the new offices. It presents the package as an expansion of the corporate leadership team over the legal-services business.

LegalShield Paid Memberships Pass 1.8 Million After a Record Service Year

Npros.com | 3/12/2021

LegalShield said paid memberships reached a record in 2020, with more than 1.8 million subscriptions for legal help, identity protection, and privacy management.

Requests for legal services rose 7.5 percent from the prior year. Identity consultations rose 32 percent. The company said it was the largest single-year volume of service requests since 2012.

Chief executive Jeff Bell said landlord and tenant issues, employment, family law, estate planning, and cybercrime moved to the front of member demand during the pandemic, and that mobile apps let the company resolve matters with record member satisfaction.

Three of four main sales channels grew. Direct-to-consumer online sales rose 70 percent. Network sales through independent associates rose 30 percent. Private-label distribution rose 10 percent. Voluntary employee benefits fell 20 percent, which the company tied to business closures.

LegalShield Has Domain Name Problem

Npros | 9/30/2011

After the company filed an intent to use trademark application for "LegalShield", it filed a UDRP claim for LegalShield.com, which was denied.

The domain, LegalShield.com, was registered by the respondent to the claim in 2001.

Pre-Paid Legal argued that it had sold legal service products under the "Legal Shield" name as early as 1999. It is unclear why the company would wait until 2011 to file an intent to use trademark application for the name.