Holland & Knight Advises Orion Legal MSO on Partnership with Rainwater, Holt & Sexton
NEW YORK (September 28, 2026) – Holland & Knight's Legal Services Transactions Team represented Orion Legal MSO, a managed services organization (MSO) that supports plaintiff firms, on its co-founding partnership with Rainwater, Holt & Sexton, Arkansas' largest personal injury law firm. Orion Legal MSO is owned by Darien, Connecticut-based Uplift Investors, a middle-market private equity firm with a business model-centric focus on services investing.
The partnership supports the continued expansion of Orion's national platform, building on its founding partnership with Dudley DeBosier Injury Lawyers and subsequent partnerships with leading personal injury firms across the country. As part of the transaction, Mike Rainwater and Bob Sexton will become members of Orion's National Advisory Board, a forum for leaders of partner firms to help guide strategy and operations across the platform.
Orion will provide Rainwater with non-legal operational support services, including marketing, finance, technology, talent and administrative infrastructure, designed to enable attorneys to focus solely on their clients and legal outcomes. Rainwater will remain 100 percent owned by its existing lawyers, who will continue to direct the firm's legal practice.
The Holland & Knight team advising Orion was led by Partners Chrystie Holmstrom and Josh Porte (M&A) on the corporate side and Partner Trisha Rich (Legal Profession Regulation) on legal ethics. They were assisted by Partner Kristin Ornstein and Associates Tom Stephenson, Sarah Caron, Oliver Peglow, Macy Szalay and Remy Farkas (M&A); Partner Lindsay Murphy and Associates Connor Jordan and Jessica Novey (Executive Compensation & Benefits); Associate Allysan Scatterday (Intellectual Property); Partners Emma Stephens and Shane Morris and Associate Jasmin Hampton (Real Estate); Associate Christina White (Tax); Partner John Dierking and Senior Counsel Ryan Kocse (Antitrust); Associate Joy Patterson (Labor & Employment); and Associate William Ringhofer (Legal Profession Regulation).
More information on the transaction can be found here.
Holland & Knight's Legal Services Transactions Team is supported by more than 60 lawyers spanning corporate, mergers and acquisitions, finance, legal ethics, legal regulation, tax, employment, venture capital, fund formation and related disciplines. The team's work spans the full life cycle of legal services transactions, from initial structuring through execution and operational implementation. This transaction marks the 35th that Holland & Knight has closed in the legal MSO space in 2026.