The legal sector isn’t the obvious place to look for high-growth scale-up businesses, other than in the innovative legaltech segment. However Ged Lawyers , founded by the entrepreneurial advocate Glen Ged, is the exception that proves the rule. The firm, which says revenues have doubled over the past four years, is today announcing new office openings in New York and Washington, taking the number of states in which it is active to six.

Such growth is unusual. Research from Thomson Reuters and the Center on Ethics and the Legal Profession at Georgetown Law shows that while US law firms saw profits increase last year, the industry faces a potentially toxic mix of rising costs, shifting patterns of client demand and pressure for technology transformation. Still, encouragingly for firms such as Ged Lawyers, clients appear to be moving towards small and mid-sized firms rather than blue-chip legal services providers.

I first interviewed Ged in 2022 , as his firm celebrated reaching $570 million of recoveries for clients, achieved over 25 years of operating as a specialist Florida lawyer. Since then, Ged Lawyers has generated an additional $210 million of recoveries, as it has begun to execute on a national scale-up plan.

“What changed was not simply growth – it was perspective,” Ged reflects. “As the firm expanded across Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Michigan, we began recognizing that many of the problems we were confronting were not regional at all. They were systemic, repeating themselves across industries, states, reimbursement systems and national institutions.”

Today, the business practices across three separate divisions. It represents individuals and families in personal injury and catastrophic loss cases; it also brings mass torts and class actions to address large-scale harms such as defective products and pharmaceutical failures; and it works with healthcare providers such as physicians and hospitals, helping them in revenue disputes with counterparties such as insurers.

The common thread, says Ged, is a desire to use the law for public good. “My mission is to leave the world in a safer position than when I came into it,” he says. “I want to make a difference in the lives of my clients.”

The healthcare work is a good example, he points out, with Ged Lawyers’ work unlocking resources for hard-pressed care providers. Dr Gary Curran, who runs a chain of chiropractic clinics in Massachusetts, says many healthcare companies have little understanding of how much they are missing out on. “Ged uncovered and recovered substantial amounts of money that I had no idea were still owed to us, creating a major financial impact on our practice.”

The firm is particularly proud of cases where its interventions have forced policymakers and regulators to take action to protect people. Ged points to a case where he represented a young boy injured in an accident with a washing machine; that prompted new domestic appliance industry regulation on safety features. In another case, the firm’s work for the victim of a road accident has seen better barriers introduced in the middle of highways across Florida.

Ged Lawyers’ growth over the past four years has been achieved without a significant expansion in headcount, with the firm still employing around 100 members of staff across its various offices. That has been enabled by significant investment in new technologies, including automation, analytics, operational systems and infrastructure efficiency.

“We’ve been able to significantly expand litigation volume, claims management capacity and operational reach without making proportional increases in personnel,” says Ged, who believes technology has a critical role to play in the legal sector. Indeed, the firm was an early pioneer of artificial intelligence, employing tools to identify reimbursement inconsistencies in the healthcare sector.

The firm continues to operate largely through contingent fees, taking a share of successful claims rather than charging clients upfront. This payment structure aligns the interests of lawyers with their clients, Ged argues, and provides access to legal services for those who might otherwise be put off by the potential costs.

In fact, Americans are increasingly willing to use such models to take on large and powerful interests, the firm believes. “The growth in class action and mass tort litigation reflects increasing public awareness around systemic imbalance and large-scale institutional harm,” Ged argues. The firm points to its work in healthcare, where it is involved in an action against MultiPlan, an insurer accused of anti-competitive practices to keep reimbursements down, and in the environmental realm, where it is taking action over the ill-effects of PFAS – sometimes known as “forever chemicals”.

There are plenty of other opportunities for agile and innovative law firms, argues Ged, pointing to litigation in areas such as social media addiction. However, the key to growth in the sector, he argues, will be to keep clients’ interests front of mind, while building sustainable business structures.

“We believe the future of law will increasingly combine litigation, technology, analytics, operations, financing strategy, and scalable infrastructure into integrated operational platforms,” Ged argues.