Canadian Psychiatric Association journal
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In this article, the author explores the relationship between the lawyer as advocate and the psychiatrist as expert. He argues that the role of the psychiatrist in aiding the Court in the determination of relevant issues is one of increasing importance. Often the diagnostic opinions offered by the psychiatrist border on conclusory legal determination. ⋯ The lawyer as adversary must subject that opinion to as rigorous an examination as possible. This examination is not an affront to the psychiatrist but rather an attempt to explore and expose the definitiveness of that opinion. It is through this combination of realized opinionating and adversarial examination that relevant legal-medical determinations can best be made within the confines of our existing judicial mode of dispute settlement.