If you think about it, medical doctors face almost exactly the same problem. I think medicine has handled things a little better by creating a system of referra

If you think about it, medical doctors face almost exactly the same problem. I think medicine has handled things a little better by creating a system of referrals and domain experts and by training specialized workers (nurses and paramedics) with clearly defined roles that do a large part of the work under supervision at lesser cost. Legal 'nurses' (paralegals with specialized training in certain areas of law) might help things immensely. Doctors have a PR advantage though. Most people think of doctors as highly scrupulous individuals and give them the benefit of the doubt. The way some lawyers (and whole branches of legal practice) have conducted themselves have lead to a bit of a PR problem. A law practice has the (often unjustified) whiff of dishonesty and underhanded dealing to it, not unlike used car salesman. People just expect to be overcharged and undeserved and are more than eager to cry foul whenever they don't get the outcome they desire. This makes lawyers extra (perhaps over-) careful. This will probably need to be fixed as part of the solution. Medicine has set up an exceptional system to distribute expertise efficiently and to diffuse and insure against its outsized liability that the law profession might do well to investigate.