PrepTest 117

[lcid:3564] Prep Test 117 LSAT — Reading Comp — S1 Reading comp

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

Which one of the Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: E

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

Question Type

Legal

Strategy Overview

Reiterate the main point as we summarized it after reading through the passage, then find the answer that best matches with it

Answer Anticipation

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 this opinion: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.

Answer choices

  1. A
    In the short term, Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited

    (A) (Lines 38-40) The Author does claim that, long-term, clients won’t be satisfied with these plans, but she also claims that there’s unlikely to be a substantial increase in law firm profits, so it’s wrong to say that she argues lawyers will profit at the expense of clients.

  2. B
    The CAW Legal Services Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

    (B) (Lines 38-40) Just because “many lawyers” take issue with the plans doesn’t mean that they’re “controversial.” And, in any case, the Author doesn’t believe that they’ll be effective in serving the needs of clients and lawyers in the long-run, as this answer states.

  3. C
    The use of prepaid Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited

    (C) The Author never suggests an alternative way to bring the cost of legal services down - she just thinks that this one approach won’t be effective in addressing client and lawyer needs.

  4. D
    In spite of widespread Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited

    (D) (Lines 38-40) This answer does a decent job of summing up Paragraphs 1 and 2, but it neglects Paragraph 3. Since that paragraph is where the Author makes her opinion known, failing to address it is a fatal problem for this answer choice.

  5. E
    Although they have so Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E matches the stem

    (E) (Lines 14-15; Lines 38-40) This answer has the key opinion from the passage - the Author’s argument that prepaid legal services plans likely won’t serve the needs of clients or lawyers in the long-term. It matches the strength of that contention (“unlikely” and “doubtful”), and it captures the viewpoint, so this is the correct answer. Note that the initial clause about adoption could be cut from this answer and it would still be correct, but since it’s included, we need to ensure that it’s supported by the passage - and it is, at the end of Paragraph 1.

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