Jeff Nix, a partner with the law firm Troutman Sanders, usually represents big contractors and developers in multi-million dollar cases. But a few years ago, he and others in the firm began helping another type of client.

Several low-income women who were cancer patients needed more than medical attention -- they needed the healing power of peace of mind. Some wanted to ensure that if they became terminally ill, their families would not have the painful decision of whether to keep them on life support. Some wanted to spell out who would get custody of their children or control any assets they left behind.

Nix recalled the time his group was asked to go to rural Georgia to prepare a will for a dying woman.