Surely that's an opportunity for a new firm? The demand is obviously there (plenty of people don't see a lawyer for financial reasons), as is the supply (apparently).
There's a service that used to be called "Prepaid legal" with essentially a small retainer, and a minimum guarantee of services, with favorable rates when the service was used beyond that. It operated basically as a kind of legal insurance.
Why do you think you automatically lose a case with cheap lawyers? If you are bringing a weak case against someone, then perhaps using high priced lawyers will be able to bully them into submission, but if the facts are with you, then a competent lawyer should be fine. If some are so bad that you will trivially lose, then perhaps the ABA/Bar has misrepresented their qualifications?
