Passage Discussion

[LSAT-Chang]

Here were two scales I came up with.. any feedback??

1)

Side A -- lawyer should act on personal opinions (author)

Side B -- lawyer should not act on personal opinions (some legal scholars)

OR

2)

Side A -- lawyer's sole obligation is to provide best defense for defendant (some legal scholars)

Side B -- lawyer's obligation is two fold: defendant AND court + society (author)

Did anyone come up with a better scale than mine? I have trouble picking out what the MAIN arguments are.. so normally come up with 2, or none.. what do people think about the above scales?

[timmydoeslsat]

Hands down without a doubt, the second scale is the appropriate one for this passage.

We have the central argument here as being:

Defense lawyers have one responsibility
- Some legal scholars: Claim lawyer should not judge defendants. It is the job of the court to determine guilt.

vs.

Defense lawyers have more than one responsibility
-Author: They have a twofold responsibility: defendant and court (extends to society)

-When lawyers know someone is guilty, it is the duty to not deny this. (Exact counter claim to what some legal scholars suggest) Instead of going for innocence, the lawyers should argue for extenuating circumstances and leniency.

[maryadkins]

Seconding timmydoeslsat! The second scale is the correct one in this case.

[LSAT-Chang]

Now that I look at it, my first scale is a bit too narrow, and in fact, they are evidences used to support the two sides of the second scale! agreed!

[SecondWind180]

Also note, "should" is used a total of 6 times in the last 2 ¶s which indicates strong author opinion.