US Insurance Defence Firm Wood Smith Henning and Berman Takes Private Equity Investment at Reported $700m Valuation Through Management Services Organisation Structure
Wood Smith Henning and Berman (WSHB), a national US insurance defence law firm with 550 lawyers across 43 offices in 23 states, has accepted a private equity investment from Charlesbank Capital Partners, a mid-market investment firm, at a reported valuation of $700 million, according to the Financial Times. The deal was structured through a management services organisation (MSO) model. WSHB created a separate entity named WSHB Support Services, into which Charlesbank's investment was directed. The MSO will provide non-legal operational infrastructure and support to the law firm. WSHB itself remains attorney-owned, with lawyers retaining sole authority over the practice of law and client matters. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed by the parties. The MSO model has gained traction in the United States as a mechanism that allows law firms to receive external investment without breaching professional rules in most US states that prohibit non-lawyers from owning direct stakes in law firms or sharing in attorney fees. It works by separating the firm into an attorney-owned legal entity and an MSO that houses the bulk of the firm's assets and charges the law firm fees for services. Daniel Berman, executive chairman and co-founder of WSHB, will lead WSHB Support Services as chief executive officer. Stewart Reid will remain firmwide managing partner. The firm's management committee, comprising Berman, Reid, co-founder Stephen Henning, and co-founder Kevin Smith, will continue to lead WSHB and will all join the board of WSHB Support Services. The deal continues a string of publicly disclosed law firm MSO transactions in 2026, including Massumi and Consoli's MSO backed by Trive Capital and six separate MSO investments made this year by Uplift Investors.
Why this matters
The $700 million reported valuation places this among the more significant law firm private equity transactions disclosed this year and signals that investor appetite for legal services businesses is deepening beyond early-stage or small-firm deals. The MSO structure is becoming the dominant vehicle for external capital in the US precisely because it navigates the professional conduct bar on direct law firm ownership, and each new transaction refines the template that subsequent deals will follow. For UK lawyers, the contrast with the English model is instructive: England and Wales already permits alternative business structures that allow non-lawyer ownership directly, meaning the structural complexity of the MSO is not required, but the investor economics are similar.
On the Ground
This type of transaction generates corporate, regulatory, and employment work: structuring the MSO, drafting the inter-entity services agreement between the law firm and the MSO, advising on professional conduct compliance in each state jurisdiction, and managing the governance arrangements between the attorney-owned firm and the investor-backed MSO. For UK law students, the relevance is the accelerating trend of private capital entering legal services globally, which creates M&A and structuring mandates for City firms advising either the PE sponsors or the law firms themselves. A trainee working on a comparable UK transaction would assist with drafting board minutes, reviewing SPA (share purchase agreement) schedules, and coordinating Companies House filings for the new entity structure.
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