Critical Reasoning

In an effort to reduce expenses, a law firm plans to lay off 40% of its attorneys and hire paralegal contractors as needed to replace them. In this way, the firm believes, it can avoid paying attorneys during slower periods and simply ramp up with contractors when the workload requires it.

Which of the following, if true, would most increase the plan's likelihood of achieving its objective?

A. None of the firm's existing clients would leave the firm to work with a laid-off attorney.

B. Most of the attorneys to be laid off are among the lowest-performing attorneys on the firm's roster.

C. Paralegals can perform most of the functions of the attorneys that will be laid off.

D. For any given amount of legal work, the cost of paralegal contractors does not exceed that of full-time attorneys.

E. The firm's outlook for the next few years suggests that demand for legal services will remain consistently lower than it has for the previous five years.

OA D

Source: Veritas Prep