Barbara Burk is a nationally Certified Rehabilitation Counselor and a Licensed Professional Counselor in the state of Ohio who has over forty years of experience in career counseling and vocational rehabilitation. Since early in her professional career, Ms. Burk has been under contract as an impartial Vocational Expert with The Social Security Administration, Office of Adjudication and Review (formerly the Office of Hearings and Appeals) and has testified regularly at disability hearings. Shortly after beginning her consulting role at Social Security hearings, Ms. Burk saw the need for vocational expert testimony in other legal proceedings. Therefore, she began to educate her local legal professional community. Today, her employability assessment reports and testimony are sought by plaintiff and defense attorneys handling divorce, personal injury, medical malpractice, long term disability, employment law, and workers’ compensation cases. She is experienced in testifying at depositions, arbitrations, hearings and trials.

Ms. Burk is an Active Emeritus of the American Board of Vocational Experts. She has performed in the role of President, Board Member, Secretary, and Program Chairman of the Northeast Ohio Rehabilitation Association. Ms. Burk has been a presenter at local and national conferences and has published articles related to her work activities. She is an award-winning speaker.

Ms. Burk approaches her roles of Vocational Consultant and Vocational Expert as an educator. She gathers pertinent psychosocial data; and, in cases where physical, mental or emotional issues are of concern, she uses medical doctors and/or psychologists’ statements of residual functional capacities to analyze future employability. Her written reports clearly set forth an individual’s strengths and weaknesses as they relate to the labor market so that the conclusions are based upon a firm foundation. Whenever possible, government wage data reports are used in forming conclusions regarding an individual’s earnings capacity. Ms. Burk’s knowledge of the current labor market is used to support such data. Her opinions are based upon a reasonable degree of professional certainty.

Ms. Burk is a sole practitioner with an office in Beachwood Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland.