LSAT PrepTest 132 - Section 3 - Passage 4 - Question 24

Hide analysis

Computers have long been utilized in the sphere of law in the form of word processors, spreadsheets, legal research systems, and practice management systems. ███

Context · Computers often used by lawyers

Topic · Exciting prospect of using computers for legal reasoning

Problem · Computers don't perform legal reasoning well

████ ██ ███ ██████████ ██ █████ ██ ███ ██████████ ██ █████████ ████████ █████████ ███ ███████ ███ █████████████ ██ █████ ███ ███ ██ █ █████ █████

Main Point / Explanation · Computers have difficult interpreting and applying legal rules

Early Methods · Assumed computers could apply facts to rules to reach legal results

████ ███████ ██████████████ ███ ████████ ██ ██████████████ ████ ███ █████ ██ █████ █████ ██ █ █████ █████████ ████████ ██████ ██ ██████████ ████ ███ ████ ██ █████████ ████████████████ ███████ █ ██████ ████ ██ █ ███████ ████ ██ █ █████ ██ █ █████ ████████ ███████ █ ██████ ███ ██ ████████ ██ ███████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ █ ██████ █████ █████████ ███ ██ ███ ███████ ████ ███████ ███████ ██ ███ ████ ██ █ ███████ ███ ██ ████████████ ████ █████████ ██ ██ ██ █████ ███ ███ ██ ██ ███████ ██ ██████████ ██████████████ ███ ██ █████ ██ ██ ████ ██ █████ █████ █████ ██ █████ ███████████ ███████ ████ ██ ██ ████████ ████ █ ████ ██ █████████████ █████████ ██ ███ █████ ████ ██ ███ ██████ █████ ████████████ ██ ███████ ██ ██ ███ ███████████ ███████

Problem with Early Methods · Underestimated difficulty of interpretation

E.g., is a mobile home in a trailer park a house or a motor vehicle? That requires interpretation. Many laws contain vague concepts in order to be flexible. But to apply those laws requires a lot of contextual knowledge about the world.

██████████ ██ █████ █████████ ███████ ███ █████ ████ █████████████ █████████ ███ ███ █████████ █████ █████ ████████ ███ ███████ ██ █████████ █ ██████████ ███████ ██ ████████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ █████████ ████ ███████████ ███████████ ████ ████████ ███████ ██████ ██████████ ██████████ █████ █████ ██████████ ███████ █████ ██ █████ █████████ ██████ ██ ████████ ██ █ ██████ ████ ██████ █████ █████████ █████ ██ █ ███ ██ ██████ █ ██████████ █████████ ████ █████ █ ████████ ████████ ███████████ ███ █████ ██ ███ █████████ ████ ██ █████ █ ██████████ █████ ██ █ ███████ █████ ███

Modern Methods · Computers that incorporate case law

Proponents believe that computers can be programed with cases and use case-based reasoning to reach the right conclusion.

Problem with Modern Methods · The problem of interpretation is still present

Because the computer still needs to figure out which cases are similar in relevant ways.

Passage Style

Problem-analysis

Single position

24.

The passage suggests that the ██████ █████ ██ ████ ██████ ██ █████ ████ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ██████████ █████ ████████████ █████████ █████ █████████ ████████

Question Type

Author’s perspective

Implied

The question stem is too general for us to make a strong prediction. We should use POE on the answer choices, keeping in mind the author’s main point: legal reasoning systems don’t work well because they have difficulty interpreting laws and applying them to different situations.

These systems have ███ ███ ████████ ████████████ ██ ████████ ███████████ ███ ████ ██████ █████ ██ ███ █████ ██ █████ ██████████████

Unsupported. The author only ever says that these systems have fallen short of expectations. She never suggests that anyone’s expectations have been met.

12%

Progress in research ██ █████ ███████ ███ ████ █████████ ████ ███████ ███ ██████ █████ █████████ ███ ██████████ ██ ████████ ████ ███████ ███████████ ████████ ██████ █████████

Anti-supported. The author argues that progress is hindered because of the way these systems function on a fundamental level. The problems are more on the theoretical side. Meanwhile, the author never raises any issues with access to legal documents.

These systems will ████ ██████ ██ ████ ██ █████ ████████ █████ ██████ ████ ██ ████ ██ █████ █████████

Unsupported. The author never suggests how these systems will or should be used. She brings up legal research systems as an example of a long-standing use of computers, but she indicates that legal reasoning systems are a different kind of tool from legal research systems.

20%

Rule systems will ██████ ███████ ██████████ ███████ ████ █████

Unsupported. The author presents case-based systems as a more recent development than rule-based ones, and she never suggests that rule-based systems will replace them. She simply says there are problems with both.

Developing adequate legal █████████ ███████ █████ ███████ ████████ █████████████ ██ ████████ ████████████

Strongly supported. The author notes that to for rule-based systems to work, they’d need a “comprehensive knowledge of the world” beyond what computers are capable of, and that case-based systems suffer from an “intractable” (i.e., difficult to solve) problem in software development. So she believes that if we can ever overcome the problems with legal reasoning systems, it would require significant advances in computer tech.

61%

Answer five questions and we'll estimate your score.

It takes about five minutes.

Take the free diagnostic

More free LSAT prep: Sample LSAT questions Full-length diagnostic & practice test All free LSAT resources

PrepTest 132 - Section 3 - Passage 4 - Question 24

Answer five questions and we'll estimate your score.

Difficulty

Analysis

Answer Popularity

Question history

Confirm action

PrepTest 132 - Section 3 - Passage 4 - Question 24

Answer five questions and we'll estimate your score.

Difficulty

Analysis

Answer Popularity

Question history

Want to know why the right answer is right?