How to Hire a Vocational Expert: A Practical Guide for Attorneys

Retain a vocational expert as early as practical once earning capacity, employability, or vocational rehabilitation is likely to be at issue. Early involvement allows input on the medical record, functional capacity evaluation referrals, and deposition strategy.

Core credentials include the CRC (Certified Rehabilitation Counselor) (Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor Certification, n.d.), CVE (Certified Vocational Evaluator), and ABVE Diplomate or Fellow designations for advanced forensic work (American Board of Vocational Experts, n.d.). State licensure may be separately relevant depending on jurisdiction.

A complete engagement typically covers records review, a file review or in-person evaluation, a written report, deposition, and trial testimony if needed. Each phase has a distinct deliverable and time commitment; scope is documented in the engagement letter.

Typical materials include medical records, FCE reports, prior employment records (job descriptions, wage statements, W-2s), educational records, deposition transcripts of the claimant and treating providers, and any vocational testing previously performed.

Be cautious of experts who cannot articulate methodology plainly, rely solely on DOT without cross-referencing O*NET (U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, 1991; National Center for O*NET Development, n.d.), produce unsubstantiated labor market surveys, or have a history of methodology-based exclusions.

Ask these before the engagement letter is signed, and keep the answers with the file:

1. Which credential do you hold, and is it current? The answer names the certifying body, not a job title.
2. What share of your recent engagements came from plaintiffs and what share from defendants? A practice that runs to one side is the first thing opposing counsel will raise.
3. Have you testified in this forum, and has an opinion of yours ever been limited or excluded? A candid account of a limitation is worth more than a perfect record.
4. Which method will you apply to this claim, and which published data will it rest on? The answer names the classification systems and the wage source before any record is read.
5. Will you conduct the interview and write the report yourself? The person who signs the report is the person who must defend every line of it.
6. What do you need from us, and by when, to meet the scheduling order? The answer is a records list and a date for each phase.
7. What will the engagement cost by phase, and what is the retainer applied against? The answer belongs in the engagement letter, in writing.
8. Can your opinion come out against the party that retains you? The only acceptable answer is yes.

The answers sort candidates faster than a resume does. An expert who names the method and the data before seeing the file has a method; one who says it depends on the records has none yet. An expert who volunteers a prior limitation and what changed afterward will meet the same question calmly on cross-examination. A phase-by-phase cost answer shows that the expert has scoped the work; a single figure shows that the expert has not. The last question separates a witness from an advocate, and a factfinder can tell the difference.