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Behind the Scenes: How AI is Quietly Transforming the Legal Client Experience

Behind the Scenes: How AI is Quietly Transforming the Legal Client Experience

The following was contributed by Richard Culberson, the CEO North America of Moneypenny, the world’s customer conversation experts, specializing in call answering and live chat solutions.

When people think about the legal client experience, they often picture what happens in the courtroom or during a critical client meeting. But increasingly, the most meaningful changes to how law firms, legal service providers and legal funders support their clients are happening out of sight, thanks to the power of artificial intelligence (AI). Whether it’s client intake, communication routing, or managing complex caseloads and funding relationships, AI is reshaping the way legal teams deliver service behind the scenes.

Across America, firms in all industries are turning to AI to enhance their people. The goal is simple: deliver faster, more personalized, and more efficient service. And when done right, the difference is both quiet and powerful.

At Moneypenny, we work with thousands of legal professionals every day, from solo attorneys to large firms and legal funders, helping them manage customer conversations and deliver great client service. We’ve seen firsthand how AI, when applied with care and purpose, can reshape the client experience from the inside out.

Easy Access to the Right Information

In any busy legal setting, timing is everything. Whether it’s a client call, intake conversation, or case status update, having instant access to accurate information is key. That’s where AI comes in. It can surface the right details in real time so teams can respond quickly and confidently.

Take legal funders, for example, they often need to assess case viability quickly, AI tools can instantly surface key case milestones, funding eligibility criteria, and prior correspondence to accelerate decision-making and reduce friction.

Smarter Call and Message Routing

Any business fields a wide range of calls and messages in a day, and not every inquiry belongs on the same desk. AI can now analyze keywords, tone, and context to route communication to the right person, and it does it automatically.

That means clients reach the right person faster, and your team spends less time untangling misdirected messages. In an industry where responsiveness matters, this kind of behind-the-scenes efficiency is a real win.

Getting Ahead of Client Needs

What’s more, AI doesn’t just react, it can anticipate too. By looking at past interactions and analyzing the data, it can identify patterns and flag issues before they arise.

Let’s say a client regularly asks about timelines or paperwork. AI can flag repetitive requests for status updates from claimant attorneys or co-counsel, prompting automated reporting or scheduled updates to improve transparency and communication between parties. This level of attentiveness not only reduces frustration but also builds trust and reassures clients, something especially valuable in the high-pressure, high-emotion legal industry.

Seamless Experience Across Channels

Today’s clients want to communicate on their own terms, whether that’s by phone, email, live chat, or text. And they expect consistency, no matter the channel. AI can help to make that happen.

By bringing together data from multiple sources, AI ensures that whoever answers the phone or replies to a message (whether that is call one or message five) has the full context. The result is that clients feel heard and known, not like they’re starting over every time, and it is that kind of continuity that can turn a routine exchange into a relationship.

Real-Time Support for Your Team

Think of AI as a digital assistant, offering prompts, surfacing information, and making sure the person handling the call or message has exactly what they need. It is helping people deliver their best work.

At Moneypenny, our AI tools support our legal receptionists during conversations, pulling up relevant details, suggesting next steps, and helping maintain a personalized touch even during peak periods. It’s about helping good people be even better at what they do.

Scaling the Personal Touch

There’s a common misconception that AI makes things feel impersonal or robotic. But when it’s used well, it actually allows businesses to be more personal, and at scale. Imagine being able to greet every client by name, remember their preferences, and respond in a way that feels tailored, even when your team is managing thousands of interactions. That’s what we aim to deliver every day. And AI makes it possible.

For legal funders juggling a portfolio of diverse cases and law firm partners, AI can ensure consistency in tone, terminology, and updates so that funders can maintain an attentive, personalized service level without scaling up staff headcount.

The Big Picture: Human + AI = A Better Experience

Whether you’re running a law firm, operating a litigation finance business, or managing client services across the legal ecosystem, one thing is clear: clients want service that’s fast, accurate, relevant and personal. AI helps make that happen, by enhancing the human touch.

The real transformation isn’t just happening in space that the client sees but in the systems behind the scenes that power that experience. For leaders across legal industry and beyond, the takeaway is this: the future of service isn’t just about upgrading the visible. It’s about building smarter, more supportive systems that let your people do what they do best.

That’s where AI delivers its real value and where the real competitive edge lies. 

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Private Equity and Litigation Funders Build Out MSO Pipeline into U.S. Personal Injury Law Firms

By John Freund |

Private equity firms — and a growing number of established litigation funders — are accelerating their push into U.S. personal injury law firms through management services organizations, a structure that lets outside capital share in firm economics without running afoul of state rules against non-lawyer ownership of legal practices.

As reported by Bloomberg Law, Apollo Global Management, Fortress Investment Group, and Stifel Financial Corp. are all actively eyeing the space, with Fortress reportedly behind a $125 million investment into Rafi Law Group. Louisiana's Dudley DeBosier has launched a PE-sponsored MSO that has already acquired a second firm, and Holland & Knight is advising the Amaro Law Firm on an MSO-routed capital infusion expected to close by year-end.

Litigation finance players are squarely in the mix. Mass tort funder Certum Group has acquired an MSO partnered with Dallas trial firm Sbaiti & Co., and Burford Capital has expressed interest in U.S. law firm investments through similar vehicles. Advisory firm Samson Partners Group closed 10 MSO deals in 2025 and is working on roughly 20 in 2026, the bulk of them in personal injury, while Tierra Capital Partners is fundraising a $100–125 million co-investment fund dedicated to the structure.

The MSO route — typically handling IT, marketing, intake, and back-office functions — gives funders and PE sponsors economic exposure to plaintiff-side caseflow that has historically only been accessible through case-by-case advances or portfolio facilities.

Loopa Finance Backs Nearly 300 Chilean Families in $18 Million Villa Panamericana Construction Defects Suit

By John Freund |

Latin America–focused litigation funder Loopa Finance has announced that it will fund a civil action filed by nearly 300 apartment owners at the Villa Panamericana housing complex in Cerrillos, Santiago, against the developers and contractors behind the project. The claim, brought before Santiago's 10th Civil Court, exceeds $18 million in aggregate damages.

According to a Loopa Finance announcement, the suit is led by Nicolás Vassallo, partner at Chilean firm Abogabir Miranda, and targets Inmobiliaria Parque Cerrillos SpA, Empresa Constructora DLP S.A., Ameris Capital S.A., and related investment entities. Plaintiffs are seeking roughly $11 million in direct damages and temporary housing costs, nearly $7 million in moral damages, and additional compensation equal to 10% of each unit's purchase price to capture lost property value.

Villa Panamericana's Lot B comprises 17 buildings and 1,355 apartments originally built to house athletes at the 2023 Pan American and Parapan American Games, before being allocated to lower-income families through government housing subsidies and the Teletón program. Residents have reported water leaks, structural cracks, and serious electrical, plumbing, gas, and elevator failures, with preliminary expert reports citing violations of Chile's General Urban Planning and Construction Law.

"Access to justice should not depend on the affected families' financial resources," said Federico Muradas, Loopa's head of legal. Loopa's funding will cover legal and technical costs of the proceedings on a non-recourse basis, in what stands as one of the larger consumer-tied construction defect actions yet financed in Latin America.

Merricks Urges UK Court to Reject Innsworth’s Challenge Over £200M Mastercard Settlement Distribution

By John Freund |

The class representative in the Merricks v Mastercard collective claim has urged a London court to reject litigation funder Innsworth Advisors' judicial review of the £200 million settlement distribution, in what observers describe as the first substantive test of a Competition Appeal Tribunal settlement decision.

As reported by Law360, Walter Merricks's legal team told the High Court on Wednesday that Innsworth has already received an adequate return from the CAT-approved settlement and that its challenge should be dismissed. Innsworth argued earlier in the week that the distribution scheme is "illogical" and "flawed," contending that the tribunal failed to properly assess the funder's recovery.

The CAT had divided the settlement into three pots. Pot 1, totalling £100 million, is ring-fenced for class members. Pot 2, approximately £45 million, covers Innsworth's litigation costs. Pot 3, approximately £55 million, allocates roughly £23 million to Innsworth as the profit element of its return, bringing its total recovery to around £68 million. Innsworth contends that this amounts to only a 0.5x return on more than £45 million invested, and disputes the methodology used to set the figure.

The case has drawn close attention from the UK funding sector. A judicial review of a CAT-sanctioned distribution could establish important parameters around how courts assess funder returns in collective proceedings, particularly at a moment when the tribunal has signaled heightened scrutiny of certification and take-up in entrepreneurial class actions.