Mid-2026 State Regulation Review: WA, CO, AZ, VA | Relevant Newsroom
Relevant Management Services reviews how Washington, Colorado, Arizona, and Virginia regulate the business of law as of mid-2026 — and why one MSO model works in all four.
Press Release — Published 2026-07-22
Relevant Management Services today published a mid-2026 review of the rules governing the business of law in Washington, Colorado, Arizona, and Virginia — the four states where the independent, attorney-owned firms behind the platform's brands practice. The four states have arrived at strikingly different answers to the same question: who may participate in the business of legal services, and on what terms.
Washington is experimenting. The state's Entity Regulation Pilot Project — authorized by the Washington Supreme Court in December 2024, with applications open since October 2025 — lets businesses and nonprofits seek authorization to deliver legal services for the first time in state history, under a time-bound, data-driven program run by the Washington State Bar Association and the Practice of Law Board.
Colorado is drawing lines. House Bill 26-1421, the Legal Practice Integrity and Fee-Sharing Prohibition Act, enacted in June 2026 and effective August 12, 2026, bars compensation to nonlawyer businesses that is contingent on, or calculated as a percentage of, a law firm's legal fees, revenues, profits, or case outcomes — while expressly preserving flat-fee and hourly compensation for management services organizations.
Arizona went furthest, earliest. In 2021 it became the first state to eliminate its version of Rule 5.4, creating the Alternative Business Structure license, which allows nonlawyer ownership of legal-services businesses under court oversight. Roughly 150 ABS entities had been licensed as of early 2026.
Virginia holds the traditional line. It maintains the longstanding Rule 5.4 framework: nonlawyers may not own law firms or share in legal fees, and law firms buy business services from outside providers the way any business does.
The company's model is built for the strictest version of the rules, which is why it works in all four states. The independent firms engage Relevant Management Services for strategy, brand, marketing, technology, and back-office operations at fixed or objectively calculated fees — never a share of legal fees, revenues, or case outcomes, and never a role in legal work or legal judgment. The company's full analyses of these developments are available at www.relevantms.com/insights.
About Relevant Management Services: Relevant Management Services is a legal management services organization (MSO) that provides strategy, brand, marketing, technology, and back-office operations to independent, attorney-owned law firms. The firms it serves operate under distinct client-facing brands — Relevant Law for advisory and transactional work, Alden Kinsley for litigation — from hubs in Richmond, VA; Lynchburg, VA; Colorado Springs, CO; and Bellevue, WA. Relevant Management Services is not a law firm and does not provide legal services or legal advice. Each firm is independently owned by licensed attorneys who retain complete control over all legal work, and each firm compensates RMS at fixed or objectively calculated fees for business services — never a share of legal fees, revenues, or case outcomes.
Relevant Management Services is not a law firm and does not provide legal services or legal advice. Nothing in this release is legal advice or an offer of legal services.
Media inquiries: info@relevantms.com