Anyone can check an AGCV membership or certification claim, and you do not need an account or a login to do it. Every method below reads from the same member records, so they all return the same answer.
Verify by email address
If all you have is an email address, start at agcv.com/verify. Enter the address the videographer gave you and the page answers with three things: whether that person is a current AGCV member, which certifications they hold, and a link to their live verification page.
This is the method built for the person doing the hiring. You already have the videographer's email from the booking thread, so there is nothing to ask them for.
If the lookup finds no record, the address is not in AGCV's files. That is not always proof of a false claim - people sign up with one address and work from another. Ask them for their verification link or their member card and check that instead.
Scan the QR code on their card
Every AGCV membership card carries a QR code, and scanning it opens that member's verification page directly, so an altered card still points you at the real record. Trust what the page says over what the card says.
Follow their verification link
Members can share their own verification page, and many put the link in an email signature or a proposal. The link always reflects current records, so a member who lapses cannot freeze a favorable snapshot.
Members can also share a single credential rather than their whole record. Those links look like agcv.com/verify/<name>/cdvs and show a view-only copy of that certificate. You can read it and confirm the credential, but you cannot download it as a file, which is deliberate - the certificate stays with the person who earned it.
Browse the member directory
The Current Member Directory lists current members with their verified certifications and their location. Use it when you are looking for someone rather than checking someone.
One caveat worth knowing is that the directory is optional, so a member can remove their listing and keep their certifications verifiable. Absence from the directory is therefore not evidence against a membership claim. Check the email lookup before you draw a conclusion.
What a verification actually tells you
The verification page answers two separate questions, and they are worth keeping apart. The first is membership status: whether this person is a current member of the Guild in good standing. Membership lapses when dues lapse. The second is certifications, meaning which credentials this person has earned. AGCV issues three:
| Code | Credential | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| CDVS | Certified Deposition Video Specialist | Officer-of-record protocol, FRCP Rules 28, 30 and 32, room setup, the signal chain, post-deposition certification |
| CEVS | Certified Evidentiary Video Specialist | Scene capture, day-in-the-life, drone documentation, authentication, chain of custody |
| CTTS | Certified Trial Technology Specialist | Hot-seat operation, exhibit handling, transcript-to-video sync, courtroom AV |
Every credential holder completes the coursework, passes the assessment, affirms the AGCV Code of Ethics, and keeps the credential current through continuing education.
LVCP is not a credential. The Legal Video Career Path is a free sixteen-lesson orientation course. If someone presents "LVCP" as a certification, they have misread their own transcript. The course is well worth completing, and it is still not a qualification.
A credential and a current membership are also two different things. Someone can hold the CDVS and let their membership lapse. The verification page will say exactly that, and what it means for your assignment is your call.
When the record looks wrong
Verifications reflect AGCV records as of the last update, and the pages refresh every few minutes rather than instantly. If a member tells you they just earned a credential and it has not appeared yet, give it a few minutes and reload.
If something still looks wrong - a name that does not match, a credential you expected to see, a record you believe is out of date - write to info@agcv.com and we will check it against the underlying member record.
Published by the American Guild of Court Videographers.