"How Can You Represent That Man?": Ethics, the Rule of Law, and Defending the Indefensible

As we meet to discuss legal ethics, we should consider whether the subject as it is usually presented today adequately encompasses the ideal role of the lawyer, beyond zealous advocacy on behalf of clients. For the most part, legal ethics today, through codes of professional conduct, deals with prohibitions intended to protect the public from misconduct by lawyers, oftentimes criminal. Thou shalt not steal, conceal, lie, bear false witness, suborn perjury, or breach client trust. But is this all?

Doesn't ethics promise more than this? Ethics-like morality, which has richer connotations in our culture-properly deals not only with what is bad, or prohibited, but more importantly with that which is good and required.