Kentucky Firm is MSO Orion’s Second Partner: Litigation Finance

Happy Friday! Another week, another law firm MSO deal.

Justin Henry and I wrote about private equity firm Uplift Investors making its second public investment in the personal injury space by partnering with Kentucky-based Hughes & Coleman.

Uplift launched legal services company Orion Legal earlier this year and announced its first public deal with Louisiana’s Dudley Debosier. The move signals private equity’s continued interest in personal injury and the law firm space generally. Non-lawyer financiers like Uplift have been moving into the sector by acquiring the back-office functions of multiple legal practices using a mechanism called a managed services organization (MSO).

Trisha Rich, a partner at Holland & Knight who advises on MSOs and represented Orion, spoke about the ethics of adding more law firms to an MSO at the 2026 Class Action Money & Ethics Conference.

“Once you have an MSO servicing multiple law firms, one of the things you really have to think about is how you’re going to keep those law firms separate from an ethical standpoint,” Rich said.

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More From Money & Ethics

During the panel focused on litigation funding, MSOs were a hot topic, but panelists also dug into efforts to enact regulation.

Kacey Wolmer, COO of Contingency Capital, said she met with the House Judiciary Committee this week to discuss Rep. Darrell Issa’s bill (H.R. 1109) that requires litigation finance disclosure.

“Because it’s sort of milquetoast, it might be able to move faster and we are watching it rigorously,” she said.

Legislation to regulate MSOs and alternative business structures is also percolating in California, Illinois and Colorado.

Rich, of Holland & Knight, used the word “unhinged” to describe an Illinois bill that would ban outside investors from from charging fees directly or indirectly based on law firm profits.

“It is one of the most poorly drafted pieces of legislation I have ever seen,” she said. “It affects every vendor that touches the practice of law in some really profound ways.”

What I’m Reading

• The Times reports that EY is believed to have paid more than £100 million in a confidential settlement of a High Court claim brought by the administrators of NMC Health, a company that collapsed amid an alleged fraud scandal. The administrators repaid almost £48 million of litigation funding, along with an agreed litigation funding return of £22.2 million, according to a report from the administrators.
• Stanford Graduate School of Business professors published an article in American Law and Economics Review about litigation funding disclosure requirements. The authors created a model to test whether it’s true that “plaintiffs prefer secrecy” and “defendents prefer disclosure.” Spoiler alert: It’s complicated.

Listen: Sidley Leader Shares Growth Plan

Sidley Austin crossed $3.74 billion in revenue last year and has its sights set on $4 billion. But according to its top leader, the number is a byproduct, not the goal. The real question is whether the firm is built for what comes next.

On our podcast, On the Merits, Yvette Ostolaza, chair of Sidley’s management committee, sits down with Bloomberg Law reporter Meghan Tribe to discuss strategic lateral hiring, formal integration plans, and a willingness to pull back from practices and geographies that aren’t growing.

“There are no sacred cows,” Ostolaza said. “We need to continue to evaluate how the industry is changing.”

Commentary & Opinion

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