Ethical Decisionmaking and the Design of Rules of Ethics

Much of what American lawyers know about legal ethics comes from the rules of professional responsibility.Law school courses are organized around the Model Code of Professional Conduct ("Model Code")' and the Model Rules of Professional Conduct ("Model Rules" or "Rules") 2 (together, "Codes"), 3 a majority of states require that bar applicants pass the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination ("MPRE"), 4 and the continuing education of lawyers often focuses on application of the Codes and their state law variations.5 Even though the