This is an interesting take on the US legal market.  It discusses whether the establishment is resisting change and transformation.  The UK regulatory body has so far been supportive of change, but there has always been the dilemma regarding commoditising the legal services market and offering a more cost effective service to the masses.

There has to be a middle ground so that legal assistance is affordable for most not just for the elite few, while maintaining quality and service levels.

In the UK the NewLaw structures have been able to maintain quality and service levels essentially by changing the traditional corporate structure.  This change has changed the game in the UK.  It seems simple, but in a new world order changing something as simple as structure can change the entire pricing model while maintaining or even improving service levels.