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I agree you have to know which matters are straightforward and which aren't. And that's the point. POA applications generally are simple, provided there's noone being exploited and the attorney is fully trusted and the applicant understands the effect of the document. Make choices on your wishes and options (all explained on the OPG website), Insert details. Check very carefully, print, get witnessed. Register. Pay the fee. It's not like litigation where people need expert advice on the merits of their claim, how to draft it, quantum, tactics. Or transactional work. Or advice on actual points of law. Clearly if there are complexities or undue influence around a POA, or specific issues whereby legal expertise is needed, advice may be needed. However in the majority of routine situations, capable people don't need solicitors, any more than someone needs an accountant to submit a non-complex tax return. In the 21st C there' lots of information to guide people through the process plus a helpline via the OPG. Ironically, when I applied in a lay capacity but being a solicitor, their staff emphasized it was more likely, statistically, for mistakes to be made by solicitors and for their applications to be rejected, not the ones made by lay applicants.....