Well, to be precise, as any attorney might counsel, you can get poor advice from the freebies, too! Perhaps especially so adding the greatest danger is in fact, free lawyering, and getting just what one pays for. (The caveat might be, so why pay for it from a lawyer.
) As has been seen often, even from BGOs. And that is a perhaps greater danger, i.e. trusting one is getting good counsel that is free, but in the end, a volunteer.
One issue w/ paid counsel, their agenda will likely be personal, definitely theirs and not necessarily the candidate's. They've got skin in a game in which that might be dubious.
So the point is not to denigrate volunteers, BGOs especially, nor paid counsel. Suffice it to suggest, a gun-for-hire is probably not a wise way to go in pursuing appointment to a service academy.
The better way would seem to be ask many, pay attention to some, assess carefully she who offers advice, come to judgement and action in timely manner, and take responsibility for your own counsel ultimately. In the end, the shame, blame, or achievement will fall on only one set of shoulders. Let Atlas shrug, but not yourself.