PT139.S2.P4.Q24

PrepTest 139 - Section 2 - Passage 4 - Question 24

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P1

In October 1999, the Law Reform Commission of Western Australia (LRCWA) issued its report, "Review of the Civil and Criminal Justice System." Buried within its 400 pages are several important recommendations for introducing contingency fees for lawyers' services into the state of Western Australia. ███████████████ ██████████ ████ ███ ███████ ████ ██ ███ ██████ ██ ██████████ ██ ███ █████ ███████ ██ ███ ████████ ████ ██ █████████ █████ ████ ███████ █████████ ██████ ███████ █████

Context · LRCWA introduced contingency-fee agreements
These are agreements where a lawyer is paid only if the case is successful. Because of the higher risk involved, contingency fees tend to be higher than regular fees.
P2

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LRCWA recommends uplift Fee · A type of contingency fee
"Uplift" in the sense that a lawyer's regular fee will be paid plus a fixed additional percentage.
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LRCWA Rationale · Prevent lawyers from disproportionate gain
And hence safeguards just compensation to plaintiffs.
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LRCWA Recommendation Details · Two requirements for uplift fees
1. This contingency-fee arrangement must be used only a last resort; 2. The lawyer must know that the client is unable to pay normal fee.
P3

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Critique · Too onerous for lawyers
Requires lawyers to investigate client's financial circumstances and estimate probable cost of litigation.
P4

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Critique · Unfair; limits freedom of contract
Why should contingency-fee agreements be available to only the least well-off clients?
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Critique · Main reasons for contingency-fee agreements apply to everyone
1. to provide a way to finance litigation; 2. to shift risk of loss to lawyers.
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Critique · Contingency-fee agreements better align interests
It gives lawyers skin in the game and so should increase their diligence and commitment.
Passage Style
Critique or debate
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24.

Which one of the following ██ █████ ██ ███ ███████ ██ █ ██████ ███ ███ ██████████ █ ██████ █████ ████ ██ ███████████ ███████████████████ ██ ███ ███████ ███████████████████ ███████████ ██████ ███ █████████ ██ █████ ████ ██ ██████ ██████████

a

The length of ████ ████ █ █████ ███ ████ ██ █████████ ██ ███████ ██ ████████

This is probably true— and it would make it difficult to determine a client’s eligibility— but it isn’t given as a reason in the passage. The author notes here that litigation costs partially depend on factors that might change as the case unfolds, but he never mentions the length of the trial.

2%
b

Not all prospective ███████ █████ ████ ██ ██████ ████████ ███████████ █████ █████ █████████ ██████████████

This may be true— and it would make it difficult to determine a client’s eligibility— but it isn’t given as a reason in the passage. The author doesn’t say anything about whether some clients are hesitant to reveal their finances.

7%
c

Some factors that ███ ██████ ███ ████ ██ ██████████ ███ ██████ █████ ███ ██████████ ███████

The uplift fee can only be used when a client can’t pay the usual fee, so lawyers have to investigate the client’s finances and estimate the probable cost of litigation. This author says that determining a client’s eligibility would be difficult, since litigation costs can change after the trial begins.

74%
d

Uplift agreements should ████ ██ ████ ██ █ ████ ███████

This is stated in the passage, but it isn’t given as as a reason for the difficulty a lawyer would have in determining a client’s eligibility. Instead, it’s given as one of the LRCWA’s two requirements for uplift fees.

5%
e

Investigating whether a ██████ ██ █████████ ██ █████ ████ ██ ██████ █████████ █████ ████ ████ ████ ████ █████████████ ███ █████ ██████ ██ ███ █████

This may be true, but it isn’t given as a reason in the passage. The author explains here that the uplift fee requires lawyers to investigate both the legal issues of the case and the client’s eligibility, but he doesn’t argue that one takes time away from the other.

13%

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