As the voluntary market continues to heat up, employers are warming to more alternative benefits like group legal plans. Providers such as Legal Access Plans say growth is in synch with the voluntary market's overall success. Shannon D'Onofrio, a client services manager with the company, says sales are increasing every year.

In the past, many plan sponsors did not understand legal plans, but now there is evidence that both advisers and their clients understand the products better than ever.

"Our industry isn't changing that much with administration, but with familiarity, yes," says Bill Blaine executive VP of Chicago-based Professional Marketing Group. "More and more companies are becoming aware of legal plans."

Marcia L. Bowers, the director of group sales for Hyatt Legal Plans, a Cleveland-based subsidiary of MetLife, says one of the past challenges of marketing group legal plans was the nature of the product.

"The average American still doesn't have a will, most people don't have their own attorney to call on retainer, so the process is still a little unusual for most people," says Bowers. "Because [group legal] involves legal terminology and attorneys, it might be a little intimidating. It might appear a little complex, and therefore difficult to understand. Although, the broker marketplace is increasingly embracing our product and selling more and more of it, so they're starting to overcome that challenge."

The key to group legal sales appears to be clear and simple communication about what the plans offer. The services employees can access through legal plans vary greatly. Some focus on the preparation and review of legal documents like tax audits, living wills, estate plans and traffic tickets. Others cover civil litigation defense, adoption, divorce and consumer protection issues.

"The idea behind legal plans is that employees can call and talk to a lawyer before something becomes a very costly problem. So, the plans can be a real cost saver if people are willing to pay that premium," says Blaine.

The premium is relatively small at only $15 to $20 a month and is typically paid by the employee. Hyatt primarily installs 100% employee-paid voluntary legal plans, although in a few rare cases, employers will contribute a certain percentage of the premium.

"Enrollment is generally around 10% when an employer first offers a legal plan, which is strong for a voluntary program. And we see growth every year in most of our plans," says Bowers.

Even though group legal plans are an inexpensive product, Blaine says brokers will need a sizeable group to justify the time they spend communicating and implementing the program. That can take time given common misperceptions about group legal.

When legal plans first hit the scene employers were reluctant to adopt them because they feared employees would use the benefit to sue them. Now, most employers understand that legal plans have provisions built in that prevent such sponsor vulnerability.

"An employee cannot even get advice from an attorney, let alone representation on anything dealing with their employer or their employment. Attorneys are contractually prohibited from doing that," says Bowers.

Bowers encourages brokers and consultants to stress unlimited access and ease of use when touting the benefits of group legal to employers. Most brokers appear to be selling legal plans as stand-alone products rather than bundling them with other voluntary plans because they work differently than many other voluntary benefits.

"We do a lot of business through brokers and consultants. Sixty-two percent of our plans were sold by brokers or consultants. So, that market is doing a great job for us," says Bowers.

Despite growth in the legal benefit market the overall popularity of the benefit is still relatively small - especially among advisers who have not already embraced the notion of promoting non-traditional employee benefits to their clients.

"From everything I've seen legal interest is pretty weak. We have an agreement with Pre-Paid Legal, but I'm under the impression that legal plans are not that popular," says Andrea Kessler, director of business development at Keller Benefit Services, a Bethesda, Md.-based broker.