The advocate assigned to an accused person in a Cardassian court, whose task is not to win acquittal but to help the defendant accept guilt gracefully.
In the Cardassian legal system the verdict is fixed before the trial begins, and the hearing exists to show the public that the state is always right. The conservator is the lawyer assigned to the accused. His duty is to guide the defendant towards a moving confession. The accused may also have a nestor, an adviser, while the judge who presides is called the archon.
The system is shown in the Deep Space Nine episode Tribunal. Miles O'Brien is seized on his way to a holiday and tried on Cardassia Prime for supplying weapons to the Maquis. His conservator is Kovat, an elderly advocate who looks forward to the execution, and Odo acts as his nestor before Archon Makbar.
When Sisko exposes the plot behind the charge, Makbar abruptly frees O'Brien. Kovat is left dismayed at having won a case, fearing it will cost him his life.