Keith

Of course you can represent yourself. In my situation, I appreciated having an attorney deal with filing the necessary forms and scheduling the hearing. My wife wasn’t really in any condition to deal with it, and I was working as much as possible to make up for lost income and increasing medical bills… in addition to taking care of the kids.

My wife met a couple times with the attorney, told her story and described her situation at the hearing, and that was that. Having somebody working on the case who had the know-how and experience relieved some of the stress.

I think it really depends on the situation. If we had a strong support network that included somebody who had the time and energy to file the forms and follow up after each denial, perhaps we wouldn’t have needed an attorney, but when you’re trying to keep your head above water and raise your kids and deal with everything that bipolar throws at you, I think it helps to have somebody you can hand it off to.

My purpose for wanting to interview an attorney who’s experienced in this area is so we can provide some tips to anyone who does choose to represent themselves or handle the case for a friend or family member. I’m also curious to know a little more about this myself.

I’d like to thank everyone who’s posted comments on this and added to the discussion.

What percentage of your practice is Social Security cases? Generally, you do not want someone who spends less than 1/3 of his/her time doing Social Security work handling your case. When you want a job done right, you want a specialist.

Also, do not be swayed by win/loss ratios. I know this is counterintuitive but a lawyer who wins 9 cases out of 10 is not necessarily better than a lawyer who only wins 5 out of 10. It all depends on which cases the lawyer took. Many lawyers will only take on easy cases. So, winning 9 out of 10, may actually mean they dropped the ball on an “easy” case.

Other lawyers take on the really tough cases that no other lawyer will touch. If that lawyer wins 5 out of those 10 cases, that may be an impressive achievement.

Just keep in mind that pumping up win/loss numbers is as easy as turning away tricky cases.

As far as tips, the best thing I can recommend is to keep treating on a regular basis. Social Security gives a lot of weight to treatment notes. You do not want to be in a position where the only evidence you have is your own say-so that you are having problems.

Also, ask your doctor or therapist whether he or she thinks you are able to work. You need to make sure you have a medical specialist on your side.

1. Clients with Bi-polar disorders are not identical. I have had success in many cases. At the same time, people vary greatly in their abilities to tolerate and benefit from medicines. The most important factor is that the mental health treatment provider supports the disability claim and is willing to say so in writing.

2. Approval for benefits can take a few months or many years. The variables in the process are factors are too many to list.

3. Fees are contingent. This means no fee unless client gets benefits. The maximum generally is $5300 for agency work. Fees for judicial review can be higher although the government pays part of these.

4A. Everything Dr. Fink blogged March 17.
4B. Be careful to tell the truth. This means don’t down play the symptoms and don’t exaggerate. One of the most helpful things an attorney does for a disability client is facilitate communication.
4C. Ask your provider for help. You are not likely to win if your prescriber or therapist do not support your claim.