Any attorney in North Carolina who applies for board certification as a specialist in social security law must meet certain standards including a showing of substantial involvement in this specialty area of the law. Substantial involvement in the practice of Social Security disability law means that the attorney has spent a certain amount of time doing substantive legal work in the field. A portion of that substantial involvement can involve a practice equivalent such as:
- service as a law professor concentrating in the teaching of Social Security disability law; or
- service as a Social Security administrative law judge, Social Security staff lawyer, or assistant United States attorney involved in cases arising under Title II and Title XVI.
Substantial involvement may also involve a showing of the completion of certain tasks including:
- proceedings before an administrative law judge;
- cases appealed to the appeals council of the Social Security Administration; and
- cases appealed to federal district court.
The attorney applying for board certification in social security disability law in North Carolina must also complete certain Continuing Legal Education (CLE) credits in social security disability law and related fields such as:
- workers' compensation law;
- elder law;
- practice management;
- ERISA;
- medical injuries, medicine, or anatomy;
- labor and employment law;
- trial skills and advocacy;
- veterans' disability law; and
- the law relating to long term disability or Medicaid/Medicare claims.
Another requirement for board certification in the specialty area of social security disability law is that the attorney must submit to peer review by other attorneys and judges who are familiar with the attorney's practice.
