Q7

[Wackyjacky]

It seemed to me "complements effective legal representation" is parallel to the first line in the last paragraph: "The lawyers obligation to the court and to society ALSO ultimately benefits etc."

If I am correct, I do not understand how that can be understood to be the primary purpose of the passage. The author sticks it in at the end and clearly says "ALSO". To me, it seems the author is letting you know of a fringe benefit that comes along with the the view of a lawyer having a duty not just to the defendant but also to the court and society.

Please help!

Thx

[christine.defenbaugh]

Thanks for posting, Wackyjacky!

When faced with a primary purpose question, the most efficient way to zero in on the correct answer is to employ both our sense of the scale and the passage map.

Paragraph 1 is focused on one side of the scale: lawyers sole obligation is to their client, and to providing him or her with the best possible defense, regardless of any personal feelings or beliefs of the lawyer.

Paragraph 2 sharply counters this with the other side of the scale (and the Author's POV): the defense lawyer ALSO has obligations the court/society, and therefore a lawyer's sincere belief about the guilt or innocence of the client should determine the type of representation provided.

Paragraph 3 continues on to claim that this dual-obligation "ultimately benefits the defendant," suggesting that two obligations are not actually at odds with one another. (The rest of the paragraph repeats various things the author believes defense lawyers should and should not do.)

It's critical to remember that a question about 'primary purpose' is asking WHY. Why did the author write this passage?

The author spends a lot of time telling us what defense lawyers should and shouldn't do, but why does he think those standards and expectations are better than they other guys'? For two reasons: 1) because the lawyer has an obligation to society, in addition to the client and 2) because the client is best served by these standards as well.

The author lays out both of these purposes, one in paragraph 2 and one in paragraph 3. So, which one is the primary purpose? Well, they both are! And in fact, (D) gives us the blending of the two: the defense laywer's duty to the court and society (paragraph 2) complements (blend!) effective legal representation for the client (paragraph3).

I think you are putting too much weight on both: 1) the fact that the second purpose is at the end and 2) the word "also". "Also" is simply a word of continuation; it does not necessarily imply that what comes next is ancillary or less important. Similarly, there are many passages where author's build up the entire passage to the primary purpose, which they only reveal at the very end.

What is also significant here is that every other answer is categorically incorrect. Remember that when you get a question wrong, you make two mistakes: rejecting a correct answer AND accepting an incorrect answer.

Let's take a look at those wrong answers now:

(A) The author doesn't seem to think the defense lawyer's role is complicated, he just wants different standards for behavior than some people.
(C) The author is trying to show why the guilt/innocence SHOULD BE an important issue to defense attorneys, not trying to explain why many of them don't think it's important.
(D) The author seems to suggest that having knowledge that a client is guilty or innocent could affect whether one decides to take a case, he never suggests that this MUST be resolved first.
(E) Way too broad! "the values and principles of democratic societies"? Anyway, the author isn't just talking about how awesome the practice of law is, he's suggesting that a rather narrow subcategory of the law should be handled one way and NOT another.

Remember, for primary purpose questions, use your scale and passage map to guide your thinking as you assess the question of WHY: why did the author write all this, what point is he ultimately trying to make?

Please let me know if this helps clear up a few things!

[Wackyjacky]

christine.defenbaugh,

Thanks so much for your clear and thorough explanation. I agree with both your points, pertaining to the word 'also' and how the correct answer choice is a blend of both purposes.

Thanks!