Within the working life of the psychotherapist, court attendance deserves special consideration. Viewed often with trepidation, the therapist is forced to step outside the therapeutic setting and into an exposing, adversarial experience. Court may then be seen as an untimely impediment to the progress of psychotherapy. In other instances the appearance becomes a discrete pursuit, dislocated from the work of psychotherapy proper, transported to the courtroom and subsumed under the ‘opinion of the expert witness’ .

This paper examines what the patient gains if the therapist less readily adopts these common approaches. Using clinical examples, we may learn how aspects of court work can serve the therapeutic process, rather than being detrimental to developments. In doing so, we hope to begin a guide to successful practice.