Harland Stonecipher Designated One of Oklahoma's 'Most Admired CEOs'

ADA, Okla., Feb. 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc. (NYSE: PPD) Founder and CEO Harland C. Stonecipher has been named one of Oklahoma's top business leaders in the inaugural "Oklahoma's Most Admired CEOs" program organized by The Journal Record, the Oklahoma City-based business newspaper affiliated with Dolan Media Company.  

Stonecipher was awarded the top honor in the category of "Public companies with less than $500 million in annual revenue" at a gala event hosted by The Journal Record on Feb. 18 in Oklahoma City.

In total, 39 business and non-profit leaders were nominated for the "Oklahoma's Most Admired CEOs" awards in seven separate categories, including public and private companies, small businesses and non-profits.

Commenting on the "Oklahoma's Most Admired CEOs" initiative, Mary Melon, president and publisher of The Journal Record said, "This inaugural event has far surpassed our expectations, both in terms of response and attendance.  We were not surprised, however, with the caliber of our finalists, as we all know the high level of leadership prevalent in our business and nonprofits communities."

"It is a distinct honor to be included among this exceptional group of Oklahoma's most admired CEOs, and I'm gratified to receive the award in our designated public company category," said Pre-Paid Legal's Harland C. Stonecipher.  "From my perspective, this award represents the vision with which we created Pre-Paid Legal Services more than 37 years ago, as well as the hard work and dedication of all those who helped make this vision a reality."

The honorees for "Oklahoma's Most Admired CEOs" were selected by an independent industry panel from dozens of nominations for the awards.  Within the "Public companies with less than $500 million in annual revenue" category, nominees in addition to Pre-Paid Legal Services included: Cathryn Hibbs, Deaconess Hospital; Billy Taylor, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.; and Randall White, Educational Development Corp.

About PPD -- We believe our products are one of a kind, life events legal service plans. Our plans provide for legal service benefits provided through a network of independent law firms across the U.S. and Canada, and include unlimited attorney consultation as well as will preparation, traffic violation defense, automobile-related criminal charges defense, letter writing, document preparation and review and a general trial defense benefit. We have an identity theft restoration product we think is also one of a kind because of the combination of outside vendors and our provider law firms. More information about us and our products can be found at our homepage at http://www.prepaidlegal.com.

Forward-Looking Statements -- Statements in this press release, other than purely historical information, regarding our future plans and objectives and expected operating results, dividends and share repurchases and statements of the assumptions underlying such statements, constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The forward-looking statements contained herein are based on certain assumptions that may not be correct. They are subject to risks and uncertainties incident to our business that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties are described in the reports and statements filed by us with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including (among others) those listed in our Form 10-K, Form 10-Q and Form 8-K, and include the risks that our membership persistency or renewal rates may decline, that we may not be able to continue to grow our memberships and earnings, that we are dependent on the continued active participation of our principal executive officer, that pending or future litigation may have a material adverse effect on us if resolved unfavorably to us, that we may have compromises of our information security, that consumer purchases of discretionary items may be impacted by a downturn in the economy, that we could be adversely affected by regulatory developments, that competition could adversely affect us, that we are substantially dependent on our marketing force, that our stock price may be affected by short sellers, that we have been unable to increase our employee group membership sales, that our active premium in force is not indicative of future revenue as a result of changes in active memberships from cancellations and additional membership sales and that we have repurchased more than half of our outstanding shares. Please refer to pages 18 through 20 of our 2008 Form 10-K/A and pages 7 and 8 of our September 30, 2009 Form 10-Q for a more complete description of these risks. We undertake no duty to update any of the forward looking statements in this release.

SOURCE Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc.