Why is E wrong?

Hi @sophi98, Great question. There are a few little details in (E) that make it a worse option than (C). The first is that it refers to research DESIGNED to confirm the usefulness of stealing thunder, whereas lines 11-12 tell us that "no empirical research as directly tested the effectiveness of stealing thunder in actual trials." In other words, research that is specifically designed in order to test the efficacy of stealing thunder just does not exist. (E) also tells us that the research vindicates lawyers' belief, whereas the studies in the passage merely suggest effectiveness (line 14), which are words that have different levels of confidence associated with them. In any case, the passage also doesn't suggest that the belief needed to be vindicated - it seems that most lawyers believed in the value of stealing thunder, and that it was a "commonly held belief." Hope this helps.

What is the difference between suggesting effectiveness and vindicating the lawyers' belief in the effectiveness of stealing thunder?