1. How does an individual go about hiring you to represent them in their Social
    Security Disability claim?
2. Is there a consultation fee to meet with you and discuss a Social Security
    Disability claim?
3. Can you explain more specifically how your attorney’s fees work in Social
    Security Disability cases?
4. At the end of the case, will I be responsible for writing you a check or paying
    you 25% of the back pay that I recover?
5. Once you are hired, what specifically do you do to obtain a favorable ruling
    for a Social Security Disability client?

1. How does an individual go about hiring you to represent them in their Social Security Disability claim?
Typically, you would need to call the office and talk to an assistant, who will take down some general information over the phone and then will schedule an appointment to discuss their claim in more detail. Once we are able to meet the individual, a decision can be made as to whether it is in the client's best interest for us to represent them.

2. Is there a consultation fee to meet with you and discuss a Social Security Disability claim?
No, there is no fee to meet with us and discuss your case. In fact, if you do hire us to represent you, you do not have to come up with any money up front and I will only collect a fee if I represent you successfully and get you Social Security Disability benefits. If I am unsuccessful, you do not owe one penny for any fees.

3. Can you explain more specifically how your attorney’s fees work in Social Security Disability cases?
Yes. When an individual applies for Social Security Disability benefits they will have to give a date that they became disabled (called an “onset date”). Often times, but not always, the onset date is the date that you last worked. If you receive a favorable ruling you are entitled to recover back pay for the months that you should have been receiving benefits, but were not. When that time comes, you will receive a lump sum benefit for the back pay.

When we represent disabled individuals our fee agreement says that we will collect a contingent fee of 25% of the back pay that is recovered. If I am unsuccessful in getting a favorable ruling, then there will be no back pay for the client to recover and as a result no fee will be owed. “Contingent” fee means that there will be a fee only in the event that a specific occurrence happens, with that occurrence in this case being, a recovery of back pay.

4. At the end of the case, will I be responsible for writing you a check or paying you 25% of the back pay that I recover?
When you hire us, we will have you sign a fee agreement which puts in writing the terms of our agreement and specifically addresses the 25% contingency. The fee agreement is pre-approved by the Social Security Administration and we use the same fee agreement for all Social Security Disability clients. I will send the fee agreement in to the Social Security Administration and they will include it in your file.

At the end of your successful case, you will receive a letter explaining what your benefits are going to be, including your back pay. In that same letter there will be a paragraph telling you that they are withholding 25% of your back pay to pay the attorney’s fees. Based on the figures in the letter, the Social Security Administration will send me 25% of the back pay directly, and they will send you the remainder of the back pay.

5. Once you are hired, what specifically do you do to obtain a favorable ruling for a Social Security Disability client?
One of the most important things that we do is we take the stress of the disability process off of the client and put it all on our shoulders. Once we are hired, we do not want the client to have to worry about anything except going to the doctors and getting the treatment that they need to help them get better. We can generally prepare all of the forms necessary to pursue the disability claim with the exception of just a few forms that can only be prepared by the client. In that case, we have the client fill the form out and then we review it to make sure it says everything that needs to be said.

Since we handle disability cases everyday we know all of the pieces of the puzzle that must come together in order to get a favorable ruling. One of the most important pieces of the puzzle is to make sure that the claimant is getting adequate medical care from a doctor who will ultimately support the health claims that are being made. We do everything we can to assist our clients in obtaining the medical care that they need. Many times we have very limited options, but we do the best we can.

While it is important to have medical care, it is just as important for the Social Security Administration to have records of the medical care a client is getting. We make sure that all of the important medical records make it into our clients Social Security file, so they will be considered when a decision is being made. It is not safe to assume that just because the Social Security Administration knows of a particular doctor that they will actually get the records from that doctor and that those records will make it into your file.

Lastly, if the claim goes before a judge for a hearing, we will prepare you for the hearing and will represent you at the hearing. In the weeks leading up to your hearing we will go over with you the evidence that we have to make sure it is all part of the record for the hearing. I will also meet with you to discuss the specifics of the hearing and to talk about what we want to focus on in the hearing. I also will answer any questions you have about the hearing so that you can go in knowing exactly what to expect.