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: A

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

Question Type

Legal

Strategy Overview

Review the purpose of the paragraph including Line 43, then use that and the immediate context to define the role of the mention of marketing devices

Answer Anticipation

Line 43 shows up in Paragraph 3, which is where the Author is pointing out all the downsides and likely effects of increased use of legal services plan, so any element in this paragraph likely reflects a downside of the plans.Looking to Line 43, it’s a part of a sentence that starts in Line 40 - a sentence which starts with “Since,” telling us that it’s an argument. “Since” established lawyers won’t benefit from participating in the plans, the plans will be “marketing devices” for new lawyers. So what? Does the Author build from this?Yep - she says that, while these lawyers might be “able and conscientious,” they have less expertise and thus will “provide less satisfaction to clients” (Lines 44-47).So the Author brings up the use of these plans as a marketing device for new lawyers to show that they’ll result in clients that are less satisfied with their legal representation. That’s a downside to the plans, reflecting the purpose of the paragraph as a whole - let’s find an answer stating as much.

Answer choices

  1. A
    It points to an Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A matches the stem

    (A) (Lines 40-47) The Author spends Paragraph 3 discussing why she believes prepaid legal services plan will be bad for both lawyers and clients in the long-run. One of these reasons is that they will attract new lawyers who want to use the plans to establish themselves and market, but that have less expertise and thus leave their clients less satisfied. That’s detrimental to the quality of legal services, so this is the correct answer.

  2. B
    It is identified by Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited

    (B) (Lines 30-32) The benefit that the plan administrators claim to provide to lawyers is access to new clients who wouldn’t otherwise reach out to them. While that’s related to the use of marketing devices here, the Author doesn’t bring it up for the purpose of doing so - she’s talking about how this will hurt the quality of legal services. This answer therefore misses the mark.

  3. C
    It identifies what the Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited

    (C) (Lines 46-47) The Author connects the use of the plans as marketing devices for new lawyers as resulting in lawyers with less expertise, and thus less satisfaction for clients - that’s hardly an “unequivocal benefit”!

  4. D
    It is reported as Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited

    (D) (Lines 20-27) The Author presents the arguments of lawyers who oppose the plan in Paragraph 2 - Paragraph 3 is 100% her viewpoint.

  5. E
    It describes one of Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E is not credited

    (E) (Lines 46-47) First, the Author doesn’t say that new lawyers do advocate for legal plans. Second, she doesn’t say that the need to market and establish themselves is “one of the chief burdens” of new lawyers, nor that their lack of expertise is a “chief” problem. This answer is therefore incorrect.

What this tests

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  • Answer A 1 reply

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