Pre-Paid Legal Services Honors Provider Law Firm Achievement

ADA, Okla., Oct. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- On October 22, Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc. (NYSE: PPD) held its 2010 Black and Gold Banquet to honor the 38 independent provider law firms that provide legal services to PPD members (customers) throughout the U.S. and four provinces of Canada.

This year, the annual event was held in Tulsa, Oklahoma and the program included the Top 10 Provider Awards, presented to provider law firms, attorneys and the professional and administrative staff at these firms. The awards program is based on the "WOW Service from the Heart Program," a customer service and best practices program developed by PPD to help ensure the highest quality service to the company's members.

"In 2009 the independent provider law firms that deliver legal services to our members responded to an estimated 2.3 million requests for legal services," said Harland C. Stonecipher, PPD's founder and Chairman of the Board. "Through real time monitoring, surveys and unsolicited customer communications, we are able to maintain an ongoing record of 'best practices' among our provider law firms. The annual provider law firm awards recognize the highest quality work within our unique network of law firms, attorneys and law firm professionals," he said.

In addition to the Chairman's address, the 2010 Black and Gold Banquet included presentations by Mark Brown, PPD's Co-CEO and Chief Marketing Officer and James A. Merritt, Jr., Managing Member, Merritt, Flebotte, Wilson, Webb & Caruso, P.L.L.C. (http://www.carotennlaw.com/), (PPD's provider law firm for North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee).

The 2010 Award of Excellence – the highest honor among the Top 10 Provider Awards – was awarded to Evans, Loewenstein, Shimanovsky, Moscardini, Ltd. (http://www.elsm.com/index.html), Chicago, Illinois (large market) and Robinson, Kriger & McCallum (http://www.rkmlegal.com/), Portland, Maine (small to medium market). The Award of Excellence designates those firms with the highest provider survey rankings, most positive feedback from PPD members and best adherence to PPD corporate service standards.

Other Top 10 Provider Law Firm Award winners include:

Quality Award – Ross & Matthews, P.C. (http://www.rossandmatthews.com/), Fort Worth, Texas (large market) and Lisle Rutledge, P.A. (http://www.lislerutledge.com/), Springdale, Arkansas (small to medium market)

Outstanding Service Award – Riggs, Abney, Neal, Turpen, Orbison & Lewis (http://www.riggsabney.com/), Tulsa, Oklahoma -- for its Denver, Colorado office (large market) and Willinger, Willinger & Bucci, P.C. (http://www.wwblaw.com/), Bridgeport, Connecticut (small to medium market)

Distinguished Service Award – Powers, Chapman, deAgostino, Meyers & Melia (http://www.powerschapman.com/), Troy, Michigan (large market) and McEnroe, Gotsdiner, Brewer, Steinbach & Henrichsen, P.C. (http://www.mcenroelaw.com/), Des Moines, Iowa (small to medium market)

Achievement Award – Weinstock, Friedman & Friedman, (http://www.weinstocklegal.com/), Baltimore, Maryland -- Maryland and Washington, D.C. market (large market) and Bervar & Jones (http://www.bervar-jones.com/), Honolulu, Hawaii (small to medium market)

Diamond Award – Lombino Martino, P.S. (http://www.lm-wa.com/), Tacoma, Washington (large market) and Anderson Law Firm, L.L.C. (http://www.theandersonlawfirm.com/), Montgomery, Alabama (small to medium market)

Determination Award – Deming, Parker, Hoffman, Campbell & Daly, L.L.C. (http://deminglaw.com/Norcross.html), Norcross, Georgia (large market) and Mattleman, Weinroth & Miller (http://www.mwm-law.com/home.html), Cherry Hill, New Jersey (small to medium market)

Commitment Award – deBeaubien, Knight, Simmons, Matzaris & Neal (http://www.dbksmn.com/), Orlando, Florida – North Florida market (large market) and Wagner, Falconer & Judd, Ltd. (http://www.wfjltd.com/index.asp), Minneapolis, Minnesota – for North Dakota-Wisconsin markets (small to medium market)

Star Performance Award – Framme Law Firm, P.C. (http://www.frammelaw.com/index.htm), Richmond, Virginia (large market) and Riling, Burkhead & Nitcher (http://www.rilinglaw.com/), Lawrence, Kansas (small to medium market)

Growth Award – Feldman, Kramer & Monaco, P.C. (http://www.fkmlaw.com/index.php), Hauppauge, New York (large market) and Dempsey, Roberts & Smith, Ltd. (http://www.drsltd.com/), Las Vegas, Nevada (small to medium market)

About PPD Provider Law Firm Network System -- PPD maintains a rigorous monitoring system and conducts surveys which provide feedback on the customer service experience of PPD members with the provider law firms. This is one of the distinguishing characteristics of PPD's "Provider Law Firm Network System." The average tenure for provider law firms in the PPD network is more than 12 years.

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, 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 due to the combination of our identity theft restoration partner 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 16 through 19 of our 2009 Form 10-K and pages 7 and 8 of our June 30, 2010 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.