Cross-Examining Legal Ethics: the Roles of Intentions, Outcomes, and Character

Abstract

This Article examines the ethical status of some crucial elements of legal ethics in an unusually broad and systematic way. This examination illustrates the possibility of genuine progress in understanding and evaluating legal ethics. In particular, the Article draws upon the ethics of character in order to transcend otherwise unresolvable conflicts between those who emphasize the importance of good or bad intentions and those who emphasize the importance of good or bad consequences.