Burford Capital, the $3 billion litigation finance firm, isn’t satisfied with funding lawsuits from the sidelines anymore. Now, they want to buy into U.S. law firms directly, aiming to cash in on the American legal system at the expense of everyday consumers.

Despite long-standing rules meant to keep legal advice free from profit-driven interference, Burford is pushing a workaround. They’re using a loophole to skirt ethics rules and extract law firm profits through back-office fees. Translation: Wall Street gets paid whether the client wins or loses.

As the Financial Times reports:

“We have talked to boutique firms that broke off [from] other firms, and we have talked to some of the largest firms in the US,” said Burford co-founder Jonathan Molot. “We’re confident that in the years ahead this will become a bigger part of our business and of the market.”

Burford pitches this as innovation, but consumers should see it for what it is: a profit grab at their expense. These financial firms aren’t interested in justice. They’re interested in returns. And when litigation is driven by investors, the legal system becomes less about helping victims and more about maximizing payouts.

“It’s a crazy thing that the capital markets and the market for legal services have had no interaction historically,” Molot said.

But there’s a reason these worlds have remained separate: justice should never be for sale. When outside investors fund legal cases, consumers risk becoming pawns in a game designed to benefit shareholders, not clients.

It’s time for lawmakers to act. If Wall Street financiers are allowed to entrench their industry in law firms, the people who need legal help the most – injured consumers, victims, and small businesses – will be the first ones left behind.