Self-study
P1
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. ████ ███████ ████ ███ ██████ ██ █████ ██████ ███ ██████ █████ ████████ █████ ████████ ███ █████ ███████ ██ ███ ████ ██ ██████████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ██ ███████ ███████ ███████ ████████ ██ █████ ███ ██████ ████ ██ ████ ███ ████ ██ █ ████████████ ███████ ███ ██████ ███ █████ ███ ████████ ██ ███████ ██ █████ ██ ████ ███ ██████ █ ██████ ███ ███ ███████ ███ ███████ ████ ███ ███████ ███
Intro topic ·
CAW plan gives autoworkers access to prepaid legal services
Workers can choose the plan's staff lawyers, or get partially or wholly subsidized service from an outside lawyer.
Reactions to CAW plan ·
Positive
Significant portion of autoworkers are enrolled in the plan. Concept of prepaid legal services is spreading.
P2
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Lawyers' concerns ·
Plan has negative effect on prices for legal services
Even for lawyers who haven't joined the plan, legal fees have been depressed in places where CAW plan operates.
CAW directors' response ·
Plan helps both clients and lawyers
Clients get access to low-price services, and lawyers can grow their business by working with people who otherwise wouldn't use lawyers. And lawyers will get clients from referrals, who would pay standard legal fees.
P3
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Author's critique of CAW plan ·
Plan won't satisfy clients long-term, and won't increase law firm profits much
Support 1 ·
Lawyers in the plan aren't as good as lawyers outside the plan
Established lawyers don't need to participate. So participating lawyers tend to be worse and provide less satisfaction to clients.
Support 2 ·
Full-fee referrals won't make up for servicing the low-fee plan clients
Support 3 ·
Lawyers won't give much time or effort to low-fee plan clients
Passage Style
Critique or debate
5.
The passage most strongly suggests █████ █████████ ██ ██████████ ██ ███████ █████ ██████ ███████████ ███████ ███████ ████ ██████ ███████ ██ █████ ████ ██ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ █████
a
Lawyers can expect ██ ████ █████████ ██ █ ████ ███████ ██ █████ ████████ ██ ████████ ██████████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ███████ █████████ ████ ████ █████████████ ████████
Unsupported. The directors say
b
Experienced cooperating lawyers ███ ██████ ██ █████ ███ ██████ ███████ ██ ██████████ ███████ ██████ ███ █████ ███ ███████ ███ ███ ███████
Unsupported. The directors don’t distinguish between experienced and inexperienced lawyers, nor do they argue that some lawyers will enjoy higher profits from complex cases. They argue that lawyers benefit from the CAW plan because they’ll get more clients through referrals, and those clients will pay the standard rate.
c
Lower rates of ██████ ████ ██ ██████ ██ █ ██████ ██████ ██ ███████ ███ ███ ████████ ███████ █████████████ ████████████████
Supported. In P2, we see that the directors think lawyers will benefit from taking clients at lower rates through the CAW plan because they’ll get more clients through referrals, and those clients will pay the standard rate. This suggests that the directors believe the lawyers’ lower profits from the plan will be offset by gaining more business through referrals.
d
Lower fees tend ██ ███████ ███████ ████ ████ ████████████ ████████████████ ███ ██████
Unsupported. The directors never suggest that the plan’s lower fees will draw clients away from other firms. In fact,
e
With all legal ████ ██████ ████████ ██ █████ ███ ██████ ██████████ ███ ██████████ ████ ███████ ██ ██████ ███████
Unsupported. The