Using the ORS Occupational Requirements Survey as a Sword and Shield in Disability Hearings – 2026 Spring National Conference – Track II (Presented by National Organization of Social Security Claimants’ Representatives)

Craig earned a Bachelor of Arts, Cum Laude, from Princeton University (1974) and a Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center (1977), where he served as an editor of the Georgetown Law Journal. He is admitted to practice in New York (1978) and Florida (2011), and holds the Board Certified Social Security Attorney designation from the National Board of Trial Advocacy. His legal credentials are complemented by a career that includes federal legislative drafting, state general counsel service, and published economics work, an intellectual breadth that is rare among disability practitioners and that enriches his analytical approach to complex Social Security claims.

Craig's career achievements span federal law, state government, nonprofit leadership, and disability advocacy. As Counsel and Staff Director of the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, he served as the primary author of two pieces of federal legislation reauthorizing and reforming the National Institutes on Alcohol Abuse and Drug Abuse. As General Counsel for the New York State Office for the Aging, he directed a statewide legal services program and authored numerous state laws affecting older New Yorkers. He has served as Executive Director of the American Accounting Association and of the Prader-Willi Syndrome Association (USA), and his Board Certified Social Security Attorney designation reflects the professional distinction he has earned in his disability practice. His Georgetown Law Journal editorship and his Princeton Cum Laude distinction anchor an academic record of the highest caliber.

Craig's professional involvement has encompassed federal legislative drafting, state government counsel work, association executive leadership, economics publication, and disability advocacy. He wrote a column on legal ethics for the Sarasota County Bar Association newsletter and authored labor relations content for the Dow Jones-Irwin Business Almanac (1977 and 1978), as well as monthly columns and annual summaries of significant labor decisions for the Monthly Labor Review during his tenure as an Economist with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. At NOSSCR, he has presented at national conferences in Washington, D.C. and New Orleans on federal court appeals strategy and the treatment of drug and alcohol abuse disabilities, topics that draw on the deep policy and legal background he has accumulated across a uniquely varied career.

Craig Polhemus brings one of the most richly varied professional backgrounds in the Social Security disability field. His career began with economics scholarship at the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, progressed through federal legislative work as Counsel and Staff Director of the Senate Subcommittee on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, where he authored legislation reforming NIAAA and NIDA and continued through service as General Counsel for the New York State Office for the Aging, where he directed statewide elder law services and drafted New York State legislation. He has led two national nonprofit organizations as executive director and written on legal ethics for the Sarasota County Bar. His disability practice, recognized through Board Certification by the National Board of Trial Advocacy, represents the capstone of a career defined by exceptional public service, legislative impact, and intellectual range. His NOSSCR speaking record reflects a practitioner who continues to bring that breadth of experience to the advancement of the disability advocacy profession.