Marla Joseph Has Been Certified as a Workers’ Compensation Specialist

When you are selecting a Pennsylvania workers’ compensation attorney to hire after injuring yourself at work, it is important to understand that this area of law has become so specialized that in 2012, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court authorized the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Workers’ Compensation Section to certify attorneys as workers’ compensation specialists. To satisfy these requirements, an attorney must take a comprehensive examination, establish that she devotes at least 50% of her practice to the specialty field of workers’ compensation, and directly participated in at least 7 of the following proceedings: Claim Petition, Fatal Claim Petitions, Specific Loss claims, Utilization Reviews, Occupational Disease claims under Section 108 of the Act, Termination Petitions, Suspension Petitions, Modification Petitions, and appeals before the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board, Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, or the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. Additionally, in a five-year period, the attorney must have conducted at least 25 depositions of medical, vocational, or other expert witnesses. The attorney must provide 3 writing samples, which may include (1) Proposed Findings of Facts and Conclusions of Law submitted to a Workers’ Compensation Judge; (2) An appeal brief filed with the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board (WCAB); (3) Petition for Supersedeas or Answer to Supersdeas before the WCAB or Commonwealth Court; or (4) Commonwealth Court or PA Supreme Court brief. For the attorney to become a certified specialist, she must also highlight 10 cases she litigated during the reviewing period. Finally, to become a Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Specialist, the attorney must demonstrate that at least seventy-five percent (75%) of the Mandatory Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) hours over the past five (5) years were taken must in the field of workers’ compensation including, but not limited to, medical, trial advocacy, etc. See here.

Not only has Ms. Joseph achieved the status of being certified as a workers’ compensation specialist by the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Workers’ Compensation Section, as authorized by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, but she subsequently began serving on the PBA Workers’ Compensation Section’s Certification Committee. Therefore, she and the members of the committee determine whether those wishing to become certified have the appropriate credentials to become certified as a workers’ compensation specialist in the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation field.