This story, about an Australian law firm that went public, reminded me of managed health care in America:

"When you allow outside influences to come into play, the client is no longer getting the best judgment of the lawyer. They're getting the judgment of the lawyer tempered, or perhaps controlled, by someone who is not inculcated in the morals of the profession.

"What happens, for instance, if investors demand that a firm drop a client whose case doesn't look winnable."