NONFICTION - March 3, 1991

TRIALS OF AN EXPERT WITNESS: Tales of Clinical Neurology and the Law by Harold L. Klawans (Little Brown: $19.95; 288 pp.) . Harold Klawans upsets the traditional cliquishness of scientists, paying homage to his patients while skewering his colleagues with an irreverent wit reminiscent of physicist Richard Feynman. Not that he has had much choice: He admits that his expert-witness testimonies against fellow doctors have led many in his profession to see him as “a turncoat, a piranha.” He isn’t much fond of his other colleagues either, lawyers who often seem to place expediency above accuracy. Happily, though, these pages are never morose because Klawans has a gripping sense of story and a hearty sense of humor, which he often directs at himself. Feeling pleased with his winning testimony one day, he asks the judge what had swayed him, “My succinct testimony on direct question? My clever response to cross examination?” “No,” the judge responds, pointing to his brightly striped clothing, “Those pants! Any expert who had guts enough to testify in pants like that has to be right.”