#26 - Concept Reference, Must Be True

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation
(See the complete passage discussion here: lsat/viewtopic.php?t=10971)

The correct answer choice is (D)

This is another question where passage organization is key. The author outlines the conditions under which contingency-fee agreements can be used in lines 23-29, which should serve as a suitable reference point.

Answer choice (A): Contingency-fee agreements do increase lawyers’ diligence and commitment to their cases (lines 58-59), but this is not a condition for their use.

Answer choice (B): The potential amount of damages awarded plays no role in the recommendations presented by the LRCWA report.

Answer choice (C): This answer choice is attractive, but incorrect. As discussed in lines 26-29, contingency-fee agreements are permitted only when lawyers can be certain that their client cannot pay their fee if the suit was unsuccessful. Answer choice (C) describes a similar, but different condition, allowing lawyers to use contingency-fee agreements if they are uncertain that the client can pay. Being uncertain that someone can pay is not the same thing as being certain that they cannot pay!

Answer choice (D): This is the correct answer choice, as it is directly supported in lines 23-26: contingency-fee agreements must be used “as a last resort,” i.e. they cannot be used when another type of arrangement is practicable.

Answer choice (E): This answer choice is incorrect, because LRCWA’s report rejects agreements contingent on the size of the damages awarded (the uplift agreements are tied to the lawyer’s normal fee). Furthermore, no indication is given that lawyers can predict the amount of damages awarded ahead of time.

[lanereuden]

I don’t see why c couldn’t be right
Condition two says:
, the lawyer must be satisfied that the client is financially unable to pay the fee in the event that sufficient damages are not awarded.

It has no talk of the word “certain”/“uncertain”.
It just says the lawyer has to be okay if his client cannot pay out due to insufficient damages
This seems like a shell game

[Adam Tyson]

It's because the LRCWA's report never recommends that a contingency fee arrangement should ever be used. They don't say "if the client cannot pay, use an uplift fee." Rather, they say "an uplift fee is the only type of contingency fee that you should use, if you are going to use one, and only if the client cannot otherwise pay." The passage does not indicate that the LRCWA ever suggests using the fee, just that they suggests limits on its use to certain situations.

Conditionally, the report says "if uplift fee, then client cannot pay". Answer C is "if client cannot pay, then uplift fee." It's a Mistaken Reversal.