But Gilbert disagrees, saying pressure to say certain things is not much of a concern to professors.

"If my side doesn't like the way I see it, that's tough," he says. "You're unlikely to get involved in something as an expert in which you will be coerced. You're likely to turn down something if you don't agree with the underlying attitudes."

Professor of Government Gary King, who has testified in four or five redistricting cases, says he has frequently disagreed with attorneys who have wished to hire him as an expert witness.

"More than once, I've told them, 'No, you're not right,'" he says. "Once I said, 'It's my recommendation that you fire me.'"

Gilbert recalls that an expert witness on the opposing side of a case in which he testified once had a difficult time defending his position.

"One side, our side actually, had a very good case and had three scientists from the period who had a good time testifying together," Gilbert says.

"The other side had a specious argument. They had as an expert witness a professor from Cal Tech who had a miserable time," he says. "He ended up making a strange argument and getting torn to pieces."

According to Frankfurter Professor of Law Alan M. Dershowitz, attorneys face a distinct disadvantage when they hire a Harvard professor as an expert witness.

"It depends on the jury. It introduces an element of elitism," Dershowitz says. "Sometimes I look for a state college teacher rather than an Ivy League elite academic."

But King points out that there is value to having academics serve as expert witnesses.

"There an people out there who have not written a word in academic literature who don't know anything testifying in hundreds of cases," he says.

Conflict of Interest

Both Brigham and Women's and the Harvard Medical School (HMS) have recently revised their policies on the right of doctors to testify or serve as the advisors to attorneys.

The Brigham and Women's regulations will require doctors who want to act as expert witnesses or paid legal consultants to request prior approval from their department heads, hospital spokesperson Terri Horbach-Torres said. HMS is now requiring professors to list legal consulting work on their annual disclosure forms, according to spokesperson Keren R. McGinity.

But FAS does not currently have any such policies.