In 2011, Pre-Paid Legal went from being traded on the New York Stock Exchange back to being a private company when it was acquired by MidOcean Partners and subsequently changed its name to LegalShield.

LegalShield develops and markets pre-paid legal service plans through a network of more than 6,900 independent provider attorneys across the U.S. and Canada.

Although he had health, life, and vehicle insurance coverage, he was required to hire a lawyer to defend himself in court and struggled to pay the legal expenses.

[29][30] In 2000 Pre-Paid Legal was criticised by CBC Television's Marketplace for operating as a multi-level marketing model and encouraging sales associates to buy training material.

Pre-Paid denied violating the law, but agreed to adjust its marketing messaging and pay $7,000, including $2,000 refunded to participants who alleged the company had misled them.

In the second, a jury found Pre-Paid and Stonecipher guilty of deceptive advertising and fraud[18] and required them, in November 2005, to pay $9.9 million in punitive damages.

[37] Pre-Paid's independent auditor was unable to approve the company's 2004 financial statements because of "material weaknesses" related to the processing of commissions.

[38] New rules proposed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) required Pre-Paid to disclose to potential associates that less than 25 percent of its sales representatives sold multiple insurance plans in 2005, which the company confirmed in an SEC filing.

[25] In 2007, the FTC began investigating Pre-Paid's marketing of its identity theft service and Affirmative Defense Response System (ADRS), which the company developed to increase group sales.

[40] According to an SEC filing, the FTC and Pre-Paid "[reached] a mutually agreeable solution", and in 2010 the agency ended its three-year investigation without any action.

[39] PrePaid was the top corporate donor to the 2008 re-election campaign for Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, who has defended the operation of multi-level marketing firms in that state.

[41] In January 2011, Pre-Paid Legal agreed to be bought out for $650 million USD with entities formed by MidOcean Partners, a New York private equity firm that describes itself as "focused on the middle market".