I also have a well educated and senior business manger client who sued his former employer for salary not paid to him. His employer has now gone bust just before we are about to obtain judgement. Now this client insists that he does not wish to bring the case to a conclusion because he has no chance of recovering the money owed to him. He also does not feel that he should pay me for his legal costs and outlays incurred to date because he "thought" he had a 'no-win, no-fee' arrangement. I have advised him that he didn't and that I can still win his action for him. He won't pay and feels that it was up to me to take the risk that his opponent would become insolvent and wouldn't be able to honour any judgement obtained.
Much of the solicitor knocking that I read on this site has it's roots in myth, prejudice and ignorance. There will always be the bad apple and mistakes will also occur, as in any walk of life, but lawyers tend to take an unjust amount of criticism without any balancing views being expressed.