Law School Discussion

Appreciate it guys.

I've got one more that's been driving me crazy. I'm not sure what test it's from because I'm taking it from the LR Bible...

Speaker: Contemporary business firms need to recognize that avoiding social responsibility leads to the gradual erosion of power. This is Davis and Blomstrom's Iron Law of Responsibility: "In the long run, those who do not use power in a manner which society considers responsible will tend to lose it." The law's application to human institutions certainly stands confirmed by history. Though the "long run" may require decades or even centuries in some instances, society ultimately acts to reduce power when society thinks it is not being used responsibly. Therefore, a business that wishes to retain its power as long as it can must act responsibly.

Which one of the following statements, if true, most weakens the speaker's argument?

A. Govt institutions are as subject to the Iron Law of Responsibility as business institutions.

B. Public relations programs can cause society to consider an institution socially responsible even when it is not.

C. The power of some institutions erodes more slowly than the power of others, whether they are socially responsible or not.

D. Since no institution is eternal, every business will eventually fail.

E. Some businesses that have used power in socially responsible ways have lost it.

Now, in my Powerscore class they told us that the word 'argument' is synonymous with 'conclusion' when it's in the question stem. So, the first thing I did was look for the conclusion, which is in the last sentence, "Therefore, a business that wishes to retain its power as long as it can must act responsibly." Now, it looks like the main point of the conclusion is the length of time a business can retain its power... so I look to the answer choices to attack that reasoning. After a cursory look, I thought you could eliminate answers A and B because they don't relate directly to the concluding argument (time of retaining power.) C was ultimately my final choice, because it weakens the argument that for a business to retain power as long as it can, it must act responsibly. This answer choice suggests that power dwindles at random, with no accordance to social responsibility. B ends up being the right answer, and I can't understand for the life of me why it's a better selection than C.

Am I attacking the question wrong? Am I supposed to go after the conclusion like I did (we were taught to do this in Powerscore)?

You are supposed to attack the conclusion, but you need to show that when the sufficient condition occurs the necessary condition doesn't automatically occur in order to weaken it.

In this case, you diagram the conclusion like so:

WRP = Wishes to retain power
AR = Act Responsibly

WRP ---> AR

B directly contradicts the conclusion since a company that wants to retain power can simply hire a PR firm in lieu of acting responsibly and be socially irresponsible.  It allows for the sufficient condition to occur without the necessary condition.

C doesn't have a real effect upon the conclusion.  The stimulus makes mention that some organizations lose power in different time frames(centuries vs. decades) and C supports that. 


Later edit - I just realized I pretty much restated what the PowerScore book said - I did it from memory from doing that problem about a million times

Quote from: callahan318 on April 28, 2008, 04:13:53 PM

What do you think? I ma practicing at teh rate of 1-2 hours per day. Can I hope to make that kind of jump in 22 weeks?

Should I study even more?

There's a post from user name Chucky from a few months back that detailed how he went from a 147 to a 169 in about that time period. I'd track that down and read it.

Are one of these the posts you are referring to?

http://www.lawschooldiscussion.org/prelaw/index.php/topic,100406.msg2549274.html#msg2549274

http://www.lawschooldiscussion.org/prelaw/index.php/topic,100406.msg2559857.html#msg2559857

Can someone please explain why the LSAT is still paper-based and not computerized like the GRE?

It's ridiculous.

Because the GRE is a ridiculous test that doesn't matter quite as much as the LSAT ?

I haven't heard much about this school on here or any other forum for that matter.  I got in with some money, but I don't know enough about the school or it's reputation.  Any opinions?

I can only speak from undergrad experience - I am finishing up my degree here.

But I'll speak regarding what I do know - the University finished the new law school building on campus - its easily one of the nicer buildings on campus - only the business school and the new JB hunt building have comparable quality.

I also know Wal-Mart currently has an abundance of graduates from UofA law school in their in-house counsel.  Since Wal-Mart corporate is about 20 minutes away from campus and the Walton's donate heavily to the school, they like UofA graduates.

Tyson and JB Hunt also have their HQs nearby so I imagine they hire from the school a lot as well.

Finding a job locally in Northwest Arkansas probably wouldn't be that difficult.  The area is nice and is completely different from the Arkansas stereotype - the other parts of Arkansas, with some exceptions, however is a different story.

The clout of the degree outside of Arkansas is probably rather limited so I don't know if it travels well.

Regarding the school overall and not just the law school, its your typical SEC school.  Fayetteville is basically a college town and the school is pretty much the epicenter of the town with Dixon street being the main thoroughfare for activity. 

Also the people drive funny here.

By this I mean that if you want to go to school in 2009, don't take the September 2009 test... take the June or February 2009 test. That way if your nerves are really acting up and you do poorly, you can either cancel or your score and retake in September or just do a normal retake since the higher score is all that matters now. This has the benefit of decreasing pressure ("I can always retake in September") and is a good insurance policy in case your nerves hit you really bad anyway.

This is exactly what I did.

I took it in September 07 and cancelled my score.  I was nervous and thought my performance was affected. Retook in February 08 - felt better during it and got a 167.  But I am taking it again in September 08 because I want 170+, so hopefully I'll be even calmer since I have the 167 to fall back on.