FAQ — How the Relevant MSO Platform Works
Answers on ownership, fees, and the MSO model — how Relevant supports independent law firms without sharing in legal fees or practicing law.
Frequently Asked Questions — How the Relevant MSO Platform Works
Understanding the Managed Services Organization model and how it empowers independent law firms within the Relevant network.
The MSO Model
What is a legal MSO, and how does the model work? A managed services organization, or MSO, is a separate company that provides business and administrative services to a professional practice — brand, marketing, technology, finance, HR, and operations — for a fee. In law, the model exists because the rules of professional conduct keep nonlawyers from owning law firms or sharing in legal fees: the firm stays owned and controlled by licensed attorneys, who do all the legal work and keep all the legal fees, while the MSO provides the business infrastructure around the practice. The same structure has served medicine, dentistry, and optometry — professions with similar ownership rules — for a generation.
Is the MSO model permitted under legal-ethics rules? The model is designed to operate within the rules of professional conduct when properly structured and operated. From New Hampshire in 1989 to New York in 2015, ethics committees across at least nine states reviewed arrangements in which a nonlawyer company ran a firm's business operations and reached the same conclusion: they are permissible, provided the lawyers keep complete control of the law. Texas Ethics Opinion 706 (February 2025) applied the same principles to the modern MSO directly, drawing two bright lines — no percentage of the firm's legal revenue, and no role in legal services or professional judgment. Relevant Management Services was built around those lines from day one.
What's the difference between an MSO and an ABS? An alternative business structure, or ABS, permits nonlawyers to own part of the law firm itself — an exception currently available in only a small number of jurisdictions, such as Arizona. An MSO never owns any part of the firm: it owns only the business infrastructure and is paid fixed or objectively determined fees, while licensed attorneys own the practice. Properly built and operated, the MSO structure can work within professional-conduct rules across the country rather than in a handful of states.
Is this a new, untested idea? No. The management-services model is well established in other professions — think Aspen Dental in dentistry or MyEyeDoctor in optometry. We've spent about a decade building and proving it for law.
Is joining Relevant a franchise? Depending on how the relationship is structured and where you are located, franchise or business-opportunity laws may apply, and the Relevant Law network relationship may be offered and administered as a franchise where required by applicable law. Any franchise offering is made only through the applicable Franchise Disclosure Document and in compliance with required disclosure and registration procedures. Nothing on this website is an offer to sell, or the solicitation of an offer to buy, a franchise or license — see our Disclaimers page for complete details.
Fees & Ownership
Do you charge a royalty or take a percentage of our fees? No — never. Relevant is paid fixed or objectively calculated fair-market fees for the nonlegal brand, platform, technology, and administrative services it provides. We do not take a royalty, a percentage of your revenue, or any share of your legal fees, and our compensation is never based on recoveries, settlements, or legal outcomes. The upside of your practice is entirely yours.
How are Relevant's fees structured? Relevant Management Services is paid fixed or objectively calculated, fair-market fees for business services, tiered to the size of the practice it supports — and the fee structure is reviewed independently to confirm it stays that way. Fees never move with a firm's revenue, profit, recoveries, or case outcomes. That is precisely the compensation design that ethics opinions such as Texas Opinion 706 and new statutes such as Colorado's HB 26-1421 leave room for, while prohibiting percentage-of-revenue arrangements.
Is there an investment to join? Yes. Joining a premium platform involves a meaningful one-time investment to build out and launch your firm, plus fixed monthly platform fees. We walk through the specifics confidentially as you move through the process.
Do I keep ownership of my firm? Yes — 100%. Relevant Management Services holds no equity in any firm in the network and never acquires or owns your practice. The licenses, the clients, the files, the fees, and every ounce of professional judgment belong to the attorneys who own the firm. You operate under the Relevant brand and engage our business platform — the ownership of your practice never changes hands.
Do I get an exclusive market? Yes. Selected firms operate the Relevant brand in a protected market, so you build without competing against another Relevant firm next door.
The Practice of Law
Does Relevant Management Services provide legal services? No. RMS is not a law firm and does not provide legal services or legal advice. It does not exercise legal judgment, choose or decline clients, set any client's fee, or direct how a matter is handled. Every legal matter is handled by the independent law firms in the network, and clients are always clients of the firm and its attorneys — never of the management company.
Who controls the legal work and the client relationship? The attorneys. Lawyers keep full, independent professional judgment, the attorney–client relationship, and client confidentiality. We handle the business side only.
Does Relevant handle client funds or trust accounts? No. Relevant Management Services does not receive, hold, or control client funds or trust-account activity. A firm's lawyers exclusively control trust permissions, transactions, reconciliations, and records — even within applications the platform supports. Relevant's accounting and bookkeeping support covers the firm's operating account only.
Who employs my firm's attorneys and staff? Your firm does. The independent firms in the network employ or contract their own legal talent; Relevant Management Services never employs the attorneys or paralegals who do legal work for a firm's clients. Relevant supports the search — sourcing, vetting, and introductions — and your firm interviews, selects, and hires directly.
What is Ellis, and who controls it? Ellis is the platform's AI toolset for research, drafting, and intake. It is deployed for use under each participating firm's direction: it does not provide legal advice, and it never makes client-acceptance, fee, or strategy decisions. The firm's lawyers remain responsible for reviewing any output used in legal services — the technology assists; it never decides.
Your Firm on the Platform
What exactly does Relevant handle for my firm? Marketing and branding (including digital, social, collateral, and print), technology and AI, accounting and bookkeeping for the firm's operating account, practice-management tooling, continuing education, recruiting, and the day-to-day back office — so your team can focus on practicing law. Relevant Management Services does not handle client billing, legal-fee collection, or client funds — those always remain with the attorney-owned firm.
Who's responsible for running my practice? You are. You own and run your firm and stay fully responsible for the practice and everything that comes with it. Relevant provides the back-office support and branding around it — accounting, marketing, technology, and the day-to-day operations — so you can focus on your clients.
How is this a modern approach to law? We give your firm the tools to run lean and efficient: enterprise technology, automation, and the Ellis AI platform for research, drafting, and intake. You and your attorneys practice the law; we provide the tools that make the business of it efficient.
Can I bring my existing firm onto the platform? Yes. We retrofit established firms onto the platform — rebranding your practice and adding the technology, systems, and back office — while you keep full ownership of your firm and your clients.
Can you help me grow through acquisition? Yes. We can help identify, structure, and support acquisitions — and connect you with opportunities across the network.
What happens if my firm leaves the platform? Your practice stays yours. Attorneys own their clients and files under the rules of professional conduct, and if a firm ever leaves the platform, its files, client relationships, and client data stay with the firm. What is licensed is the brand and the infrastructure — not the lawyer, and not the clients.