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Jonathan Coates
In recent years, medical practitioners have become increasingly familiar with the legal processes that regulate medical practice. For some, this has included being requested to comment in a formal disciplinary hearing, as an expert, on the acceptability of a colleague's practice. Although experienced lawyers will (almost always) be available to guide practitioners in such circumstances, many practitioners (who are asked to give evidence as experts) will do so with a degree of uncertainty as to what the process entails. To assist in guiding medical practitioners who give evidence before the Medical Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal ('the Tribunal'), the Tribunal has recently published a Code of Conduct for Expert Witnesses ('the Code'). The Code is the same as that used by the High Court, and stipulates the conduct required of expert witnesses when they appear before the Tribunal. The Code is published in full in this edition of the...