Codes and Virtues: Can Good Lawyers be Good Ethical Deliberators?

Regardless of its specific contents, any black letter statutory codification regulating lawyers\u27 conduct will be flawed as an instrument of ethics for lawyers. This is the central thesis of this Article. It is motivated by the idea that typical statutory prohibitions and permissions are likely to stunt sentimental responsiveness, a key feature of good ethical deliberation. Additionally, a certain technocratic mode of legal analysis heightens this tendency. Although other styles of lawyering might better engender sentimental responsiveness, statutory codes of lawyers\u27 ethics do not invite this style as readily as a welldeveloped common law of lawyers\u27 ethics would