Reading comp PrepTest 117 · Section 1 · Question 5

Passage

Questions 1-7  .        The Canadian Auto Workers' (CAW) Legal  . Services Plan, designed to give active and retired  . Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage Summary

Topic: Legal Studies


Paragraph 1

  • Paragraph note
    • New plan introduced; Adoption
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • New plan - CAW Prepaid legal services - Join plan, then pay lower legal fees (or free)
    • Options/Distinction - Plan lawyer (free), cooperating lawyer (free or fee), outside lawyer (fee + balance)
    • 45% eligible signed up; department store adopted plan

Paragraph 2

  • Paragraph note
    • Lawyers vs. Plan Directors
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Lawyers - Bad for profession; drives down overall fees in cities where it operates
    • Directors - Increase professional contact and referrals (3-4 per client that gets good service)

Paragraph 3

  • Paragraph note
    • Author - Unlikely the plans will be good for lawyers or clients
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
    • Established lawyers won’t sign up → Marketing for new lawyers → Clients get inexperienced lawyers → Clients less satisfied
    • Downward pressure on fees → Referrals won’t make up difference → Lawyers spend less time per case → Clients less satisfied

Main Point: While the CAW’s prepaid plan members appear happy with the service and the directors argue it’ll be good for lawyers and clients, in reality, the increased use of such plans won’t result in long-term client satisfaction or increased profits for law firms, as its directors argue.

Key Lines?

Lines 1-12 - The new plan is outlined

Lines 14-15 - People like it

Lines 20-22 - Lawyers criticize the plan

Lines 29-33 - Plan directors rebut that criticism

Lines 38-40 - The Author says the plan is bad

Meta-Structure?

Old Approach/New Approach - The entire passage is designed around describing (Paragraph 1), explaining the debate around (Paragraph 2), and reaching a final determination on (Paragraph 3) a new approach to legal services. The old approach to legal services saw each person individually hiring lawyers, the new prepaid plans have people enroll in a service that gives them no- or low-price legal services from lawyers who sign up for the plan. When a passage falls into the Old Approach/New Approach, the Author’s opinion of the new approach generally serves as the main point of the passage. Here, the Author’s opinion is stated in Paragraph 3 - she’s not a fan of them, believing that they won’t result in long-term client satisfaction or increased profits from law firms. In short, no one (except maybe the plan directors who are running the plan) will likely be happy with it over the long term. The main point should reflect that opinion.

Causality - Paragraph 3 sees the Author presenting a few causal chains to explain why she doesn’t believe the prepaid legal plans will result in positive outcomes for either clients or lawyers.

Last Thoughts?

This passage is relatively straight-forward as far as the content and structure is concerned, so let’s work to get through the questions quickly and free up some time for a harder passage later in the section.

Question prompt

The passage most strongly Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: C

The notes below walk through why it fits the stem and how to eliminate the rest.

Question Type

Legal

Strategy Overview

Review the argument that proponents of prepaid legal plans make on the subject of the benefits to cooperating lawyers, then find an answer stating that benefit

Answer Anticipation

We should always be tagging where viewpoints are expressed, so it should be relatively quick for us to find the arguments made by the proponents of prepaid legal plans in the passage. Looking at our notes, we can see that they show up in the second half of Paragraph 2, starting in Line 27 (the directors of these plans).What do they say about the benefits of taking clients at the lower fees? Starting in Line 30, they argue that these clients, when they’re happy with the services, refer others that wouldn’t otherwise hire a lawyer, thus leading to more business. They cite 3-4 referrals per client. Let’s find an answer stating this benefit.

Answer choices

  1. A
    Lawyers can expect to Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited

    (A) There’s no mention in the passage of lawyers gaining expertise in a wide range of legal services, let alone a mention by the proponents of legal services plans.

  2. B
    Experienced cooperating lawyers are Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

    (B) (Lines 43-44; Lines 56-57) It’s the Author who mentions new lawyers and complex cases, and she’s not a proponent of these plans. She also doesn’t mention these things as a benefit!

  3. C
    Lower rates of profit Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C matches the stem

    (C) (Lines 30-37) The proponents of these prepaid legal services plans say that each satisfied client from the plan will result in 3-4 referrals, increasing overall revenue. This answer reflects that section of the passage, so it’s the correct answer.

  4. D
    Lower fees tend to Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited

    (D) There’s no discussion in the passage of law firms poaching clients from others with lower fees or plan participation.

  5. E
    With all legal fees Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited

    (E) This wouldn’t be a benefit to lawyers - they’d be making less money!

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 7%
  2. B 1%
  3. C Credited 89%
  4. D 2%
  5. E 1%

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Discussion

  • Why C? 1 reply

    Started by Shula

  • Help 5 replies

    Started by doglvr

  • (E) 1 reply

    Started by Julie-V

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