Neuropsychologists provide important information to legal cases where the dimensions of dementia, brain damage and intellectual function are at issue. These specialists routinely rely upon standardized tests that measure various cognitive abilities. Attorneys rely upon neuropsychologists to interpret test results, and to integrate this testing with interviews, presented case history, and other sources of information.

When mental retardation is at issue, neuropsychological expertise is pivotal to establishing objective information about intelligence and adaptive functioning. Likewise, in cases involving head injury, neuropsychological testing may determine the true extent of a person's impairment. In employment fitness questions, or disputes involving capacity or the need for a guardian, neuropsychological expertise may be especially influential in scientifically resolving a person's abilities to perform essential functions, potential for recovery and shortcomings and disabilities.

Tests Require Specific Expertise

The tests that contribute to neuropsychological assessment are technical and periodically updated. Traditionally employed batteries like the Halstead-Reitan and the Luria-Nebraska have been joined by measures that give greater focus to specific domains of cognitive function, or newer batteries recently subjected to validation studies. For this reason, neuropsychologists must reflect qualification through board certification by the American Board of Clinical Neuropsychology.

Neuropsychologists often work in concert with medical professionals such as psychiatrists, who focus more on emotional aspects of behavior and neuroscience, or symptoms that can be assessed with the naked ear. Thorough assessment must rely upon both history and testing. These instruments must be standardized with the appropriate populations, and must correlate to the question they are asked to determine. Legal cases can be misdirected by the distorted application of neuropsychological tests unethically employed.

Seeking Ethical Testimony

Like any technical science, neuropsychology must be utilized in the courts with discretion and caution. The Forensic Panel created peer reviewed consultation in order to lend professional oversight to the neuropsychological examination.

The Forensic Panel's peer review ensures that history supports conclusions made by neuropsychological testing, and that testing protocols have been appropriately followed. In so doing, The Forensic Panel has become the only consultation in America that protects the integrity of neuropsychological test interpretation. This ensures that esoteric data are accurately distilled to lay judges and juries._