Exhibit List is a term that most claimants for Social Security Disability may never hear, even if they eventually have their cases brought before an Administrative Law Judge at a disability hearing.

However, it is at the ALJ hearing level that an exhibit list becomes a practical component of the claim evaluation process.

The exhibit list is exactly what its name implies, a list. More specifically, it is a listing of everything contained in a disability claimant's social security file (which, at the time of a hearing, is referred to as an exhibit file).

The information contained in a claimant's social security file includes copies of all applications and appeals that have been filed, as well as copies of all medical records gathered by disability examiners at DDS.

The exhibit list can be thought of as a road map, or, better yet, a table of contents that lists everything inside a book titled "your social security file".

Why are exhibit lists created?

Exhibit lists are created for the sake of convenience and expediency. They allow both a claimant's representative and an Administrative Law Judge to refer to a piece of medical evidence by its assigned number on the list. Entries on exhibit lists are like chapter entries in a table of contents.

Exhibit lists are compiled by the Office of Hearings and Appeals. Once an exhibit list is created, a copy is sent to a claimant and the claimant's representative, if the claimant has one.

Generally, the completion of an exhibit list signals that a case is close to being scheduled for a hearing before a judge.

When an exhibit list is received by a claimant's representative, it can be reviewed to see which medical evidence was available to Disability Determination Services when the case was denied at the Initial Claim and Reconsideration levels

Following such a review, a representative may decide to request medical records from a claimant's doctors, hospitals, and clinics while avoiding duplication of medical records that are present in the file, as indicated by the exhibit list.

Many representatives, it must be noted, however, will not order records until they receive the actual exhibit file a.k.a. social security file, and examine it for its contents.

Unfortunately, while the creation of exhibit lists is beneficial for the sake of individual hearings, the time required to create such lists tends to be an aspect of the hearing process that accounts for significant delay.

This is simply because staff workers at hearing offices must thumb through each claimant's social security file and tag each individual item as an exhibit so it can be notated on the file's exhibit list.

In all likelihood, the creation of exhibit lists adds many weeks or even months to the total time it takes to get a disability hearing before an Administrative Law Judge.