Depends on what you mean by forensic work. It is nearly impossible to be a practicing clinician of any kind and not get pulled into some kind of litigation by a present or former patient at least once during the course of your career. This is just the inevitable result of the litigious society we live in.
Neuropsych has this potential to "go legal" more than most specialties because people often use neuropsych test finding to make a case for getting SSD, or filing a law suit after an automobile or work related accident, as well as non-criminal competency issues (eg., medical decision making), etc. These non-criminal legal issues are often hard to avoid when practicing general clinical neuropsych. However, in these cases, only a minority of the time will you need to give a deposition or even take the stand in a courtroom. But, your eval can certainly play a critical role in the case, and your professional reputation will take a big hit if you made big mistakes or performed a sloppy eval. That being said, you certainly have the right to refuse such referrals if you run your own private practice and feel you cant handle it. I know several neuropsychs that are very wary of the warning signs that the eval will be used in litigation, and then avoid these referrals like the plaque. But all neuropsych evals still have the potential to go legal down the road, so its hard to avoid totally. This is why its is important for neuropsychs to be up to speed on the latest literature regarding malingering and symptom validity testing/issues. You should also know the basics of how to handle attorneys, subpoenas, and that kind of stuff. All practicing clinical psychologists should actually.
As far as serious criminal forensic work (eg.,criminal responsibility, insanity defenses, competency to stand trial), this is something that most post-doc fellowships in clinical neuropsych will NOT prepare you for. These cases are much more complex and require a good understanding of jurisprudence, Frye and Daubert standards, admissibility of certain techniques and instruments, cross examination, competency issues vs state of mind issues, etc. Most of the time, attorneys and courts systems will refer to those specifically trained in forensic neuropsych for these matters.The people who specifically do this kind of work are often seasoned veterans in the field, have years of experience, and have worked their way up to this kind of work. Generally not something you do right out of post-doc. Trust me, you wouldn't want to even touch these high stakes cases if you weren't knowledgeable about these forensic issues. Way too much stress and way too much legal liability.
