Daniel Kaffee is the protagonist of A Few Good Men. A lawyer who has spent nine months working half-heartedly for the military, he’s arranged for 44 plea bargains. Kaffee’s tactic is to charm and haggle his way toward the quickest, easiest solution. He doesn’t want to work hard, nor does he want to test himself. Justice, or any sense that the cases he works have any moral implication, isn’t a concern for Kaffee. The reason for his disinterest is his father. Kaffee’s father was a famous civil rights lawyer who died before Kaffee graduated from law school, and Kaffee struggles to live up to his father’s reputation. He hesitates to challenge himself or engage with his work because he worries that he can never achieve his father’s reputation (and can’t earn the approval that he imagines his father might have provided). As a result, Kaffee always chooses the easiest option and relegates himself to a simple, unchallenging career that allows him to maintain his confidence and his ego.

The events of A Few Good Men change Kaffee. At first, he wants to resolve the case as quickly as possible. The case intrigues him intellectually, and his natural talents tell him that something is amiss with the case, but he tries to achieve a beneficial plea bargain for his clients.