Self-study
P1
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
P2
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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.
P3
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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
21.
Which one of the following ████ ██████████ █████████ ███ ████ █████ ██ ███ ████████
Question Type
Main point
In this Problem-Analysis passage, the author describes a problem without endorsing a solution. So the main point is the existence of that problem: legal reasoning systems don’t work well because they have difficulty interpreting laws and applying them to different situations.
a
Attempts to model █████ █████████ ███████ ████████ ████████ ████ ███ ████ ██████████ ███████ ██ ████████ ██ ████████████ █████ █████████ ███ ███████████ ███████████ ███████████
This is a good description of the both the problem (legal reasoning systems don’t work well) and the explanation the author gives for that problem (these systems have issues with interpretation and matching cases to precedents).
b
Despite signs of █████ ████████ ██ ██ ███ ████████ ████ ████████ ████████ ████ ██████ █████ ███ █████ █████████████ ██ █████ █████
Too strong and too general. The author doesn’t argue that computer programs in general have little value. In fact, she notes several long-standing uses of computers for legal professionals at the start of P1. The problem she raises is just with legal reasoning systems in particular. And she doesn’t quite suggest that such systems have “little value”—she just says that they’re not as useful as was initially hoped.
c
Case-based computer systems ███ ██████ ████████ ██ █████ ████████ ███████ █████ ████ ███ █████████ ██████ ██ ███ ████
Anti-supported. The author is critical of case-based systems because they fail to solve the underlying problem of how to get computers to reason through how precedent applies to different cases.
d
Computers applying artificial ████████████ ██████████ ████ ███████ ███ ███████████████ ███ ███████ ██ █████ ██████████████ ██ ███ ██████████ ████ ███████
Anti-supported. The author notes in P2 that doctrine-based systems won’t work “in the foreseeable future” and in P3 that case-based systems have an “intractable” (i.e., difficult to solve) problem.
e
Using computers can ████████ █████ █████████ ██████████ ███ ████████ ██ █ ██████████ ████ ██ █ ████████ █████ ██████████ ███ ████ ███████ ████████ ████ ████████ █████ █████████ █████ ██████████
Descriptively inaccurate. The author argues that computers have difficulty matching cases to legal principles or rules (see P2), and she never suggests that computers offer insight into reasoning flaws.