The Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) Legal Services Plan, designed to give

Question

The Canadian Auto Workers’ (CAW) Legal
Services Plan, designed to give active and retired
autoworkers and their families access to totally
prepaid or partially reimbursed legal services, has
  (5)   been in operation since late 1985. Plan members have
the option of using either the plan’s staff lawyers,
whose services are fully covered by the cost of
membership in the plan, or an outside lawyer. Outside
lawyers, in turn, can either sign up with the plan as a
  (10)   “cooperating lawyer” and accept the CAW’s fee
schedule as payment in full, or they can charge a
higher fee and collect the balance from the client.
Autoworkers appear to have embraced the notion of
prepaid legal services: 45 percent of eligible union
  (15)   members were enrolled in the plan by 1988.
Moreover, the idea of prepaid legal services has been
spreading in Canada. A department store is even
offering a plan to holders of its credit card.

While many plan members seem to be happy to
  (20)   get reduced-cost legal help, many lawyers are
concerned about the plan’s effect on their profession,
especially its impact on prices for legal services.
Some point out that even though most lawyers have
not joined the plan as cooperating lawyers, legal fees
  (25)   in the cities in which the CAW plan operates have
been depressed, in some cases to an unprofitable
level. The directors of the plan, however, claim that
both clients and lawyers benefit from their
arrangement. For while the clients get ready access to
  (30)   reduced-price services, lawyers get professional
contact with people who would not otherwise be
using legal services, which helps generate even more
business for their firms. Experience shows, the
directors say, that if people are referred to a firm and
  (35)   receive excellent service, the firm will get three to
four other referrals who are not plan subscribers and
who would therefore pay the firm’s standard rate.

But it is unlikely that increased use of such plans
will result in long-term client satisfaction or in a
  (40)   substantial increase in profits for law firms. Since
lawyers with established reputations and client bases
can benefit little, if at all, from participation, the
plans function largely as marketing devices for
lawyers who have yet to establish themselves. While
  (45)   many of these lawyers are no doubt very able and
conscientious, they will tend to have less expertise
and to provide less satisfaction to clients. At the same
time, the downward pressure on fees will mean that
the full-fee referrals that proponents say will come
  (50)   through plan participation may not make up for a
firm’s investment in providing services at low plan
rates. And since lowered fees provide little incentive
for lawyers to devote more than minimal effort to
cases, a “volume discount” approach toward the
  (55)   practice of law will mean less time devoted to
complex cases and a general lowering of quality for
clients.    1 
 1. Which one of the following most accurately expresses the main point of the passage?

(A) In the short term, prepaid legal plans such as the CAW Legal Services Plan appear to be beneficial to both lawyers and clients, but in the long run lawyers will profit at the expense of clients.
(B) The CAW Legal Services Plan and other similar plans represent a controversial, but probably effective, way of bringing down the cost of legal services to clients and increasing lawyers’ clientele.
(C) The use of prepaid legal plans such as that of the CAW should be rejected in favor of a more equitable means of making legal services more generally affordable.
(D) In spite of widespread consumer support for legal plans such as that offered by the CAW, lawyers generally criticize such plans, mainly because of their potential financial impact on the legal profession.
(E) Although they have so far attracted many subscribers, it is doubtful whether the CAW Legal Services Plan and other similar prepaid plans will benefit lawyers and clients in the long run.

2 
 2. The primary purpose of the passage is to

(A) compare and contrast legal plans with the traditional way of paying for legal services
(B) explain the growing popularity of legal plans
(C) trace the effect of legal plans on prices of legal services
(D) caution that increased use of legal plans is potentially harmful to the legal profession and to clients
(E) advocate reforms to legal plans as presently constituted

3 
 3. Which one of the following does the author predict will be a consequence of increased use of legal plans ?

(A) results that are largely at odds with those predicted by lawyers who criticize the plans
(B) a lowering of the rates such plans charge their members
(C) forced participation of lawyers who can benefit little from association with the plans
(D) an eventual increase in profits for lawyers from client usage of the plans
(E) a reduction in the time lawyers devote to complex cases

4 
 4. Which one of the following sequences most accurately and completely corresponds to the presentation of the material in the passage?

(A) a description of a recently implemented set of procedures and policies; a summary of the results of that implementation; a proposal of refinements in those policies and procedures
(B) an evaluation of a recent phenomenon; a comparison of that phenomenon with related past phenomena; an expression of the author’s approval of that phenomenon
(C) a presentation of a proposal; a discussion of the prospects for implementing that proposal; a recommendation by the author that the proposal be rejected
(D) a description of an innovation; a report of reasoning against and reasoning favoring that innovation; argumentation by the author concerning that innovation
(E) an explanation of a recent occurrence; an evaluation of the practical value of that occurrence; a presentation of further data regarding that occurrence

5 
 5. The passage most strongly suggests that, according to proponents of prepaid legal plans, cooperating lawyers benefit from taking clients at lower fees in which one of the following ways?

(A) Lawyers can expect to gain expertise in a wide variety of legal services by availing themselves of the access to diverse clientele that plan participation affords.
(B) Experienced cooperating lawyers are likely to enjoy the higher profits of long-term, complex cases, for which new lawyers are not suited.
(C) Lower rates of profit will be offset by a higher volume of clients and new business through word-of-mouth recommendations.
(D) Lower fees tend to attract clients away from established, nonparticipating law firms.
(E) With all legal fees moving downward to match the plans’ schedules, the profession will respond to market forces.

6 
 6. According to the passage, which one of the following is true of CAW Legal Services Plan members?

(A) They can enjoy benefits beyond the use of the services of the plan’s staff lawyers.
(B) So far, they generally believe the quality of services they receive from the plan’s staff lawyers is as high as that provided by other lawyers.
(C) Most of them consult lawyers only for relatively simple and routine matters.
(D) They must pay a fee above the cost of membership for the services of an outside lawyer.
(E) They do not include only active and retired autoworkers and their families.

7 
 7. Which one of the following most accurately represents the primary function of the author’s mention of marketing devices (line 43)?

(A) It points to an aspect of legal plans that the author believes will be detrimental to the quality of legal services.
(B) It is identified by the author as one of the primary ways in which plan administrators believe themselves to be contributing materially to the legal profession in return for lawyers’ participation.
(C) It identifies what the author considers to be one of the few unequivocal benefits that legal plans can provide.
(D) It is reported as part of several arguments that the author attributes to established lawyers who oppose plan participation.
(E) It describes one of the chief burdens of lawyers who have yet to establish themselves and offers an explanation of their advocacy of legal plans.

soondoobu · Answer

In question 6, I can see why A is correct - but what makes answer choice D wrong?

VeritasKarishma 
 GMATNinja 
 MartyTargetTestPrep

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Explanation

1. Which one of the following most accurately expresses the main point of the passage?

Explanation

From the moment you read  lines 38–40 , you should expect the answer to a question like #1 to feature a downbeat assessment of prepaid legal plans. Only (E) fits the bill, acknowledging that these plans are now popular but taking a doleful view of their long-term effects.

(A)  is half right, in its (opening) suggestion that the plans appear to be beneficial, but goes wrong in the particular weakness it cites.  Lines 38–40 , as well as  line 48 , confirm that lawyers are not going to benefit, whether at the expense of clients or otherwise; in fact, they will work their butts off but deliver inferior results for less money.

(B)  is done in by the overly optimistic phrase  “probably effective,”  and by the failure to reflect the author’s overall downbeat predictions.

(C)  goes outside the scope in implying that the author is endeavoring to suggest an alternative to the CAW’s plan and others like it; she’s merely countering the rosy predictions of how these plans will work out.

(D) “Many lawyers are concerned” —not all or the generality—and  “some point out”  that fees can drop to unprofitable levels. The evidence in the passage fails to justify the claim in  (D)  that “lawyers generally” are critical. Indeed, one group of lawyers—the not-yetestablished ones—is probably happy with the plan  (lines 42–44).

Answer: E

2. The primary purpose of the passage is to

Explanation

Again: we need an answer choice that reflects a negative assessment of the effects of these prepaid legal plans.  (D)  is wordy but precisely fits the bill.

(A)  not only fails to reflect a negative assessment, but falls outside the scope. The traditional way of paying (i.e., out of one’s own pocket) is never mentioned, much less contrasted with the new plans.

(B)  The  “growing popularity”  of the plans is inferable (i.e., it reduces the financial burden of legal work and offers options) but not explicitly “explained.” In any case, the passage shifts to assessment issues as early as line 19.

(C)  may be tempting, but it merely picks up a detail from  lines 24–27,  and ignores the fact that the passage brings up several other effects of legal plans beyond the purely financial. The author is most interested in the plans’ effects on the quality of services, something that  (C)  wholly ignores.

(E) , like  (C)  in question 1, wrongly asserts that the author has an interest in reform. She does not, as the passage bears witness.

Answer: D

7. Which one of the following most accurately represents the primary function of the author’s mention of marketing devices (line 43)?

Explanation

The phrase in question appears in the context of a sentence immediately following  lines 38–40.  As we’ve said, those lines, and the rest of  paragraph 3 , are designed to convey the author’s pessimistic view of prepaid legal plans’ effects. The author views novice lawyers as less experienced than veterans, and hence less likely to perform satisfactorily, so a “marketing device” for such rookies is not going to meet with the author’s approval.  (A)  has it right.

(B)  goes wrong in two ways. By  line 43 , the author is no longer discussing what plan administrators believe, but is into her own counterargument. Moreover, as the author describes them, these  “marketing devices”  may serve to get more work for rookie attorneys but are going to disappoint clients. That tradeoff may or may not translate into a  “material contribution to the profession.”

(C)  Classic 180. At best, the benefit of getting novice lawyers some practical experience is offset by the compromised service they’ll provide; that hardly counts as an  “unequivocal”  benefit.

(D)  As with  (B) , this choice implies that by paragraph 3 the author is still reporting on the views of others, when we know that her own views have taken center stage by that point.

(E)  implies that novice lawyers are identified in the passage as supporters of prepaid plans; the passage says nothing like this. Also, a device for such rookies’ marketing would be a boon to them, not a burden.

Answer: A

KarishmaB · Answer

Plan members have
the option of using either the plan’s staff lawyers,
whose services are fully covered by the cost of
membership in the plan, or an outside lawyer. Outside
lawyers, in turn, can either sign up with the plan as a
(10) “cooperating lawyer” and accept the CAW’s fee
schedule as payment in full, or they can charge a
higher fee and collect the balance from the client.

6. According to the passage, which one of the following is true of CAW Legal Services Plan members?

(A) They can enjoy benefits beyond the use of the services of the plan’s staff lawyers.
Correct. They can use an outside lawyer.

(D) They must pay a fee above the cost of membership for the services of an outside lawyer.
Not necessary that they MUST pay an extra fee. Outside lawyers can sign up with the plan as “cooperating lawyer” and accept the CAW’s fee schedule as payment in full (so the members may need to pay NOTHING above the membership fee even if they use outside lawyers).

SomeOneUnique · Answer

6. According to the passage, which one of the following is true of CAW Legal Services Plan members?

(A) They can enjoy benefits beyond the use of the services of the plan’s staff lawyers. As members can opt for outside lawyers, so we can say members can enjoy benefits beyond plan's lawyers. CORRECT 
(B) So far, they generally believe the quality of services they receive from the plan’s staff lawyers is as high as that provided by other lawyers.  If members belief is correct about receiving the same quality of services either from lawyers outside or from lawyers of plan's staff then alternative to opt for outside lawyers would not make sense. INCORRECT 
(C) Most of them consult lawyers only for relatively simple and routine matters.  In the last line of passage, author mentions 'less time devoted to complex cases' which shows that members come with complex cases. INCORRECT 
(D) They must pay a fee above the cost of membership for the services of an outside lawyer.  This is tempting. According to line number 8: Outside lawyers, in turn, can either sign up with the plan as a “cooperating lawyer” and accept the CAW’s fee schedule as payment in full, or they can charge a higher fee and collect the balance from the client.
Outside lawyer can accept fee in any of the 2 ways:
1. accept fee schedule OR
2. charge a higher fee and collect the balance from client.
If the lawyer accepts channel 1 then members are not obliged to pay fee above cost of membership. So we can not say they MUST pay fee above the cost of membership. INCORRECT 
(E) They do not include only active and retired autoworkers and their families.  First line of the passage clearly mentions the members for whom the plan is designed: The Canadian Auto Workers’ (CAW) Legal Services Plan, designed to give active and retired autoworkers and their families access to totally prepaid or partially reimbursed legal services, has been in operation since late 1985. INCORRECT

7. Which one of the following most accurately represents the primary function of the author’s mention of marketing devices (line 43)?
(A) It points to an aspect of legal plans that the author believes will be detrimental to the quality of legal services. -  Line 40-47 Author mentions that this plan will give marketing devices to 'yet to establish' lawyers and provide less satisfaction to clients. CORRECT 
(B) It is identified by the author as one of the primary ways in which plan administrators believe themselves to be contributing materially to the legal profession in return for lawyers’ participation. -  Term 'marketing devices' is used in reference to lawyers not plan administrator's contribution. INCORRECT 
(C) It identifies what the author considers to be one of the few unequivocal benefits that legal plans can provide. -   Unequivocal is unambiguous. For author has mentioned drawbacks such as 'provide less satisfaction to clients', we can not call marketing devices reference as unequivocal. INCORRECT 
(D) It is reported as part of several arguments that the author attributes to established lawyers who oppose plan participation. -  Concern from some lawyers is mentioned in the passage but 'opposition from lawyers' is too strong to be noticed anywhere in the passage as a whole. INCORRECT 
(E) It describes one of the chief burdens of lawyers who have yet to establish themselves and offers an explanation of their advocacy of legal plans. -  In the passage 'marketing devices' is written as a positive for 'yet to establish lawyers' because they are getting more business and this choice calls it a 'burden' for 'yet to establish lawyers'. INCORRECT

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Explanation

4. Which one of the following sequences most accurately and completely corresponds to the presentation of the material in the passage?

Explanation

Our Roadmap has pretty much provided what a question like this one seeks: the passage’s structure in miniature. If you predict that the answer must contain (and in this order) the plan; criticism and rebuttal; and the author’s argument, then the only correct possible answer can be  (D) . Once we have a prediction in hand, notice how blatantly wrong the other four choices are:

(A)  Where’s any reference to criticism? We need negativity. And what does it mean by  “refinements” ? Nothing like that appears.

(B) “Past phenomena” ? Like what? And author’s  “approval” ? Are they kidding?

(C)  A plan in operation since 1985 is hardly a  “proposal,”  and, again, the author’s purpose is to evaluate, not to recommend.

(E) “An occurrence”  seems an odd way to sum up a phenomenon that has been evident since at least 1985 and is becoming widespread. The  “evaluation”  of the prepaid legal plans comes in  paragraph 3  and not, as  (E)  would have it, midway. Finally, it is unclear what they mean by  “further data.”

Answer: D

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