DISABILITY BENEFIT RECOVERY

"The vocational expert is a highly trained professional and so is the administrative law judge.  If the unrepresented claimant is not a well trained and experienced professional, he/she will be the only person in the hearing who is not. This is a recipe for disaster. " In nearly all adult disability hearings, judges will call a vocational expert to testify.  These experts are typically vocational rehabilitation counselors.  They have two functions at a Social Security disability hearing: One function is to categorize your past work experience and classify it as to exertion and skill level.  For instance, if your past work was a general cashier as performed in a grocery store or other retail outlet, it would be classified under DOT code 211.462-014, as light work with a Specific Vocational Preparation (SVP) of  2, which is unskilled work.  SVP is determined by how much training it takes to prepare for the job. The lower the SVP number, the lower the required

Recent events tell us that times are changing in the world of Social Security disability benefits.  The Government is pushing back, reducing awards, scheduling fewer hearings and making it harder to get disability benefits.  The media are playing right along. Successful representation today requires the advocate to develop a personal relationship with his client.  We must get to know the claimant as a person and develop a strategy to win his or her claim based on individual circumstances and the merits of each particular claim. The owners, partners and principals of these firms will have to roll their sleeves up, meet with their disabled clients and get involved in developing cases.   Fortunately, there are several good firms that are willing to do this. My view is that those firms will survive and continue to do well.  However, firms who see clients only as a mass marketing campaign and want to make quick cookie cutter fees for minimal work will fall by the way. 

On December 18, 2014 the nation's largest Social Security disability firm, Bender and Bender, filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the southern District of New York court.  The firm declared debts of between 40 and 50 million dollars, in spite of the fact that it reportedly collected $88 million in fees last year. The Binder and Binder bankruptcy is telltale, pointing to the new direction in Social Security disability representation.  Here is our take: It is no longer possible to sell a one-size-fits-all program for disabled Americans seeking disability benefits.   It is much more difficult to get an award for Social Security disability benefits than it was a few years ago.  These cases are now hard fought and only the strong survive.  There is no easy payday. Representatives are waiting longer than ever to get paid for the cases they win; we have to be selective about the cases we take. Because of the difficulty in collecting benefits, relatively fewer people are filing claims.