By David Thomas

June 16 (Reuters) - Private equity firm Uplift Investors said on Tuesday it has inked a deal with a Georgia-based plaintiffs firm using a model that allows outside investments into a law firm while avoiding professional rules prohibiting fee sharing with non-attorneys.

Darien, Connecticut-based Uplift said John Foy & Associates has signed onto its portfolio company Orion Legal, a management services organization, becoming the third law firm to do so. Under the deal, Orion Legal will earn fees providing Foy & Associates with back-office support such as marketing, finance, technology and administrative services. The law firm itself is still owned and directed by its founder and CEO, John Foy.

Foy will also become a member of Orion's National Advisory Board, joining partners from two other firms who have signed deals with Orion Legal – Louisiana-based Dudley DeBosier Injury Lawyers; and Hughes & Coleman Personal Injury Lawyers, which has offices in Kentucky and Tennessee. In a statement, Foy said the deal "will help us to strengthen the business side of our organization" while the firm's attorneys focus on legal matters.

Uplift managing partner Doug Rosenstein said in a statement that as Orion Legal grows, "so does our ability to invest in the shared services, technology, talent, and operational infrastructure that help our partner firms compete and win in their markets."

Rosenstein co-founded Uplift along with fellow managing partners Will Hausberg and Bradley Skaf, all of whom previously worked at Gridiron Capital. Uplift lists one other partner company on its website besides Orion and markets itself as a middle-market private equity firm.

Orion Legal was founded by Chad Dudley, the co-founder of the Dudley DeBosier law firm.

Investors and other non-lawyers are broadly prohibited from owning direct stakes in U.S. law firms or sharing in attorney fees. A management services organization can provide an influx of capital for a law firm and returns for investors without breaching those rules: The firm spins off ​its non-legal, back-office operations into an MSO, which can be owned or partly owned by outside ​investors. The law firm pays the MSO from its revenues but does not share fees.