Legal term
Managed Services Organization (MSO)
Updated Jul 20, 20262 sources
In a sentence
A corporate structure that lets outside investors own the business side of a law practice — staffing, marketing, technology — in states where non-lawyers can't own firms directly.
Only a few jurisdictions (notably Arizona, via Alternative Business Structures) allow non-lawyer ownership of law firms. Everywhere else, capital reaches law practices through MSOs: the firm remains lawyer-owned on paper while an investor-owned service company runs, and profits from, its operations.
In mass torts MSOs matter because they are one of the channels through which litigation-finance capital shapes case acquisition — including buying into distressed firms. See also: litigation funding.
