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Frankly the rot set in well before the LSA 2007; it was solicitors who screamed for open market insurance, and undercut each other on conveyancing quotes. Frankly a return to some form of scale fees might be no bad thing, though you'd need to be careful how to devise this. Yes, scale fees did mean that the top end of the market subsidised the bottom end, but first time buyers tend to buy leasehold flats, which are more complicated (and costly) than freehold in conveyancing terms and mean extra financial pressure for cash-strapped clients. But at least the clients could budget on a fixed price, and removing price competition could mean that quality and competence could come to the fore again.