FT: AI-Native Law Firms Using 'Management Services Organisation' Structures to Unlock PE and VC Capital Historically Barred From US Law Firms

AI-native law firms are deploying management services organisation (MSO) structures to access private equity and venture capital funding that is historically barred from US law firms under rules prohibiting non-lawyer ownership of legal practices. The MSO structure separates the legal practice entity from its business operations, allowing outside investors to fund the business side without technically owning the law firm itself. Multiple AI-focused legal practices have adopted the model as they seek capital to build automated legal services at scale, creating a new capital pathway that regulators have not yet moved to address.