This paper distinguishes between 'explicit' and 'implicit' approaches to teaching and learning legal ethics through the clinical method. It focuses on the explicit use of a 'moral development' approach drawing particularly on work by Kohlberg which seeks to develop moral judgment competence. It identifies some strengths and weaknesses of this model and explores its potential for informing curriculum design and delivery, particularly within the context of a pervasive approach to ethics teaching across the curriculum. The paper concludes by exploring ways in which some element of pervasive and clinical learning might best be combined within the context of the English law school to make the learning of legal ethics and moral responsibility a collective, interpretative and reflexive practice.