If you have little legal know-how and are confronted with an important legal issue that could have serious ramifications if you screw it up, you consult with a lawyer.
Please stop using the word 'lawyer' as some sort of substitute for 'wizard'. It's like when media reports use 'scientist'.
Lawyers practive in specific fields. No single lawyer knows the entire law.
An employment rights lawyer won't know the first thing about how to fight an NSL. A lawyer practising in tax issues won't be much use if the FBI comes around asking for passwords. All they'll do is give some vague 'advice' about best to just do what the Government wants.
Now, your lawyer may very well advise you to just give them what they want, but still, asking him was the right thing to do.
Really, how? Because he asked his staff to check Wikipedia and see what the consensus is?