ABS and MSO, explained plainly.
Two terms that come up in conversations about how law firms get business support. This page is general information, not legal or ethics advice.
Management services organization.
A management services organization, or MSO, is a business that supplies non-legal services to a law firm under a written agreement. Typical services are marketing, staffing, technology and administration. The firm remains owned and run by its lawyers, and its lawyers make every legal decision.
Alternative business structure.
Arizona licenses Alternative Business Structures, or ABSs. An ABS is a business that provides legal services and in which people who are not lawyers may have an economic interest or decision-making authority, under rules set by the Arizona Supreme Court.
An Arizona ABS license governs the firm's structure under Arizona's rules. It does not change the rules of any other state. Lawyers remain bound by the rules of the states where they practice, including the rules on fee sharing and nonlawyer ownership.
Most states, including New York and New Jersey, do not allow a person who is not a lawyer to own part of a law firm or to share in its legal fees, with narrow exceptions.
Non-legal services to a law firm, under a written agreement. The lawyers own and run the firm.
A business licensed by the Arizona Supreme Court to provide legal services, in which non-lawyers may hold an economic interest or decision-making authority.
An Arizona license doesn't change any other state's rules for lawyers practicing there.
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For questions about your firm's own structure, please speak with your ethics counsel.