A.M. Best Assigns ARAG Insurance Company A -Excellent- Rating; Legal Insurance Company's ``Financial Strength'' Earns High Marks.

Business Editors

DES MOINES, Iowa--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 7, 2002

ARAG(R) Group, the leading administrator of legal advisory plans, announces that the A.M. Best Company has assigned ARAG Insurance Company a Best's Rating of A (Excellent). ARAG Insurance Company and its affiliated administrators are collectively referred to as ARAG Group.

According to Best's report, "the rating reflects ARAG's strong capitalization, solid operating performance, and improving marketing profile. ARAG has demonstrated success in providing large to mid-size employers with group legal expense insurance. With underwriting profits each year, driven by favorable pure loss ratios, the company's operating returns compare favorably with industry averages."

ARAG has witnessed an increase in demand for its group legal advisory plans. The number of organizations offering its legal plans as an employee benefit has increased by 77 percent over the past five years. In addition, employee participation in the legal plans has increased 25 percent over the last three years. Furthermore, in the first two month on this year alone, ARAG added five corporate clients that will be offering its legal advisory plans to a combined employee base of nearly 140,000.

"As more companies look to diversify their employee benefit packages, legal insurance continues to gain popularity in the benefits landscape," said Jim Brennan, president of ARAG. "Our nearly 30 years of experience has allowed us to create quality products and provide superior customer service to which companies and their employees are responding favorably."

The Best report also commended ARAG for its process of becoming licensed in individual states to sell its legal insurance products. "Prior to 2000, ARAG was licensed in only fives states. Over the last two years, ARAG has obtained licensing to write business in 16 states (with 8 states pending approval). The company's strategy is to file for licensing in 10 additional states per year until 2005. Consequently, ARAG expects to write a higher percentage of total premium writings on a direct basis," the report stated.

At the time of the report, ARAG Insurance Company was licensed in Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Georgia, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin. Since the A.M. Best report, the company has been additionally licensed in Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C.

"Through its network of more than 8,000 independent attorneys and a reputation as a leading group legal expense insurance provider, ARAG continues to strengthen its market position in the United States by entering new states with expanded product offerings."

ARAG Products

Currently ARAG offers three legal insurance-based products: UltimateAdvisor(TM), SeniorAdvocate(TM)and LawExpress(TM).com.

-- UltimateAdvisor is ARAG's comprehensive legal insurance plan that is
designed to provide protection against the potentially catastrophic loss caused
by high legal fees -- plus it gives individuals easy access to experienced
attorneys, and financial planning and tax counselors to help prevent life's
little hassles from becoming major ones.

-- LawExpress.com is a web site that educates employees and consumers about
their legal needs and delivers self-help tools and legal information so they
can resolve matters on their own. When help is needed from an attorney,
LawExpress makes it possible to buy only the services needed. From a single
phone call to document preparation to full representation, the choice is
theirs.

-- SeniorAdvocate is an eldercare product that gives employees caring for
senior family members or retirees caring for themselves access to the legal,
financial planning, tax and eldercare living assistance they need to help them
through this challenging stage of life.

"Based on the companies very strong capital adequacy, relatively predictable claims development patterns, historically strong operating performance driven by profitable underwriting, and emerging market position, A.M. Best views the rating as stable," the report concluded.

About ARAG Insurance Company

ARAG Insurance Company and its affiliated administrators are collectively referred to as ARAG Group. Founded in 1973, ARAG Group (www.araggroup.com) administers more professional legal advisory plans than any other company, and maintains its domestic headquarters in Des Moines, Iowa. The company's current corporate clients include industry leaders such as Ford Motor Company, Microsoft Corporation, Nokia, Oracle Corporation, The Procter & Gamble Company, Wachovia (formerly First Union Corporation) and WORLDCOM, Inc. ARAG Group has U.S. offices in California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Washington, D.C. The parent company, Allgemeine Rechtsschutz Versicherungs Aktien Gesellschaft (ARAG), is headquartered in Germany with locations in 12 countries in addition to the United States. It maintains 12 million plan members and insureds worldwide.