Many of the well-heeled lawyers who lounged in the sun and relaxed in posh hotel bars last month at the American Bar Association's annual convention in Honolulu were not sorry to miss their new president's opening speech. Proclaimed James D. Fellers of Oklahoma City: "I view the rendering of legal services to the almost totally neglected middle-class Americans to be the bar's largest and most important task of the immediate future."
Few lawyers enjoy being told whom to serve, especially when they already have a clientele that can afford their $40-to-$50 hourly fees. The...