The Legal MSO: The Next Billion-Dollar Industry
Legal ethics attorneys Trisha Rich and Joshua Porte were featured in The American Lawyer discussing the rapid emergence of legal management services organizations (MSOs) and their implications under Rule 5.4. They noted that MSOs can deliver scale and sophisticated back-office support, which helps attorneys focus on serving clients instead of administrative work and positions small and midsize firms to compete with their larger counterparts. With private equity accelerating investments in 2025 across niche and large-scale platforms, Ms. Rich and Mr. Porte emphasized an ethics-forward path that borrows from MSO models in the healthcare industry to ensure continuity of firm culture, clear decision-making boundaries and sustainable growth. She added that she feels confident law firm MSOs, when structured properly, comply with attorneys' ethical obligations, including Rule 5.4.
"The MSO/law firm relationship structure provides a number of significant benefits to law firms, including an ability to invest in long-term technologies, economies of scale, working processes and other benefits, so it is not hard to see why lawyers and law firms are and should be interested," Ms. Rich said. "…The profession is undergoing substantial-and unstoppable-change. We're lucky to be on the front lines and we can't wait to see what happens next."