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Chapter Fifteen

Clearing the Path:

Legal Reasoning

Second Thoughts, 4th ed.

Wanda Teays

McGraw-Hill Higher Ed.

© 2010. Wanda Teays. All rights

reserved.

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The Range of Legal Reasoning

Legal reasoning has a considerable range in terms of applications and skills.

This includes being able to:

construct and unpack arguments,spot unwarranted assumptions, examine analogies,

apply legal precedents, argue a case, weigh evidence,evaluate arguments, respond to criticism,

counter an opponent’s reasoning, assess the credibility of witnesses,

spot fallacious reasoning, and write and speak clearly and defensibly.

Depending upon the area of law you intend to practice, one or more of these skills may be more important—but all come into play over time.

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Legal PrecedentOne of the most powerful uses of analogies is in the law. A previous analogous case that has become law is called a precedent.

A case is often applied to other, similar cases, even in the face of crucial differences. Precedents can carry—or sink—a case.

A precedent may be favorable or unfavorable to a later case, depending on the particulars.

Lawyers often have to demonstrate that an earlier case (the potential precedent) is analogous or that the differences are simply too great for the precedent to apply.

The analogy turns on similarities and differences. The stronger the weight of similarities—the stronger the analogy.

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Steps to Apply a Legal Precedent

Step One: Posit a potential precedent favorable to your case.

Step Two: State the legal principle or decision of the precedent case.

Step Three: Show that the legal precedent has sufficient similarities to your case.

Step Four: Conclude that the earlier decision applies here as well.

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AssumptionsThe Power of Assumptions

Assumptions can make or break an argument.

Pay close attention and keep your antennae out, watching for any omissions and unwarranted assumptions.

And don’t forget: Watch your own reasoning as well!

You don’t want to be bamboozled by unwarranted assumptions lurking behind your own argument.

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The LSATThe LSAT requires skills in both logic and critical thinking. You have been preparing as you worked your way through this text!

The exam contains four sections: reading comprehension, analytical reasoning (“the games”), logical reasoning (“the arguments”), and writing (an essay).

The reading comprehension section tests your ability to read a passage, pull out key points, watch for author bias, and so on.

The writing section presents two options and criteria for decision-making. You choose one option and set out your argument.

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The LSAT

The analytical reasoning section draws on your ability to organize information quickly and rewrite it using techniques in critical thinking.

The logical reasoning section focuses on argumentation, including the rules of inference and replacement, argument structure, and syllogistic reasoning.

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Reading Comprehension Hints

Aerial surveillance. Glance over the passage to get an idea of what it is about.

Know what's being asked of you. Look at the questions first. Questions may focus on the author's purpose, thesis, key arguments, assumptions, and applications.

Organize the material. Look at the opening and closing sentences—see if there is a summary. The selection may be out of context, so try to get a sense of how the passage is organized. Mark key points.

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Reading Comprehension con.

Block out the structure. Underline premise-indicators, conclusion-indicators, and key terms and concepts. See how the selection is organized (e.g., with sequences or lists).

Look for conditional claims and see if antecedent condition is given.

Watch for applications of ideas and concepts, comparisons, contrasts, similarities, and differences.

Remember: Examples are supplementary and not points in themselves. Think of an example as an example of some point—so look for the point being illustrated.

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Reading Comprehension con.Use all and only what is given. Do not add anything—Work with what is given, and draw any inferences solely from that.

Draw inferences from what you have read. See where the author is heading in the passage. Locate the conclusion first.

Work on speed. Give yourself as much lead time as you can to develop reading comprehension skills.

 

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Analytical ReasoningIt doesn’t matter where you start. Jump around as much as you want or plow on through. Just don’t allow yourself to get stuck, or you may miss out on the questions ahead that you might find much easier.

Do the familiar first. Look for the types of games that you feel most comfortable with. The familiar ones are likely the easiest to do. In turn, this builds confidence, which helps you in tackling the least familiar questions.

Diagram, diagram. As fast as you can, diagram the set of criteria (translate them) so you have them in skeletal form. A key issue is whether you understand the specs of the rule. If not, move on and return to this question later.

Think Like a Fox. There are three main parts—the introduction (setting out the context), the criteria (setting out relationships), and the questions (applying the criteria). Get the first two in place and then turn to the questions.

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Analytical Reasoning con.Use the rules. Think in terms of the handy

abbreviations you’ve learned in critical thinking (e.g., “neither A nor B” = ~A & ~B).

Your goal is to get hold of the structure using some shorthand form to set out the rules and expand your knowledge base. Using the rules of inference and replacement (e.g., DeMorgan’s, transposition, or “only if”). Write out all the equivalent claims.

Draw inferences and combine rules. Look at what you have with your rules—do any work together? Can you infer more rules from the ones you’ve been given? Cross out answers that you eliminate, so you narrow down the answer choices.

Map out a strategy. If you are a visual person, picture the scenario and the way the rules/criteria are shaping how you will proceed. If you think in terms of categories, focus on the rules and plug in the information from your introduction.

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Analytical Reasoning con.

Don’t carry over. Each question is distinct and separate units—the information added to one particular question does not carry over to the next. Neither the added information in one question nor the results you obtain can be brought forward to the next question.

Read carefully. If the question asks for a choice that “must be true,” then it cannot be false—so if you can think of an exception, you can eliminate that choice. If it asks for “all but” or “all that are true except,” you should look for the choice that has to be false (it contradicts what you know to be true).

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Analytical Reasoning con.

Don’t do more than you need to. The questions often give another (distinct) condition as an additional temporary criteria—it doesn’t carry over to the other questions.

The added piece of information allows you to draw more inferences and then proceed to the answer set

If you don’t see the correct answer directly, proceed via elimination.

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The LSAT—Logical Reasoning

Question types include

(1) matching the principle or form of an argument with one of the answer choices,

(2) matching the argument with one of the answer choices in terms of parallel structure,

(3) specifying what error is committed in the argument,

(4) sorting out the paradox in seemingly conflicted claims in an argument,

(5) pinpointing the source of a disagreement, and

(6) clarifying the function or role of a particular fact in the argument.

These all require that you apply your logical skills, drawing on the rules of inference and replacement, formal fallacies, and rules of the syllogism.