Articles Tagged with AI

AI, MSOs and ABSs

In my September/October 2026 ABA Law Practice Magazine column, “Acronyms Reshaping Law Firm Marketing: AI, MSOs, and ABSs,” I examine three forces that are simultaneously—and fundamentally—restructuring how law firms approach marketing, intake, staffing, and client acquisition. For decades, law firm marketing operated on limited budgets, constrained by ethics rules that kept outside capital at bay and by a culture that treated business development as an afterthought. That era is ending. Management services organizations (MSOs), alternative business structures (ABSs), and artificial intelligence (AI) are converging to create a new ecosystem in which marketing is no longer peripheral but central to firm strategy, investment, and operations.

MSOs and ABSs are introducing outside capital, new ownership models, and nonlawyer expertise into the legal marketplace. In some firms, marketing and intake are shifting to sister companies that operate outside traditional law‑firm structures. Private equity is flowing into personal injury and mass tort practices, where high client‑acquisition costs and long case‑resolution timelines make outside funding particularly attractive. These arrangements raise cultural and ethical questions—especially around oversight, fee‑sharing, and multijurisdictional practice—but they also create opportunities for marketers who suddenly find themselves working within organizations that treat marketing as infrastructure rather than overhead.