Ethics rules in most states are strict when it comes to attorneys referring to themselves as a “specialist” or “specializing.” What does it mean if your attorney is a board certified specialist. In the age of social media and rampant attorney advertising, any attorney can bring in clients. Often potential clients see a pop-up ad of their Facebook page…
Potential clients, even friends and family often ask – do I need an attorney to obtain disability benefits? To answer this question I like to make the analogy of a dentist and having a tooth pulled. You don’t need a dentist to remove a tooth but the process probably goes a lot smoother with a professional rather than using a…
Something interesting happened to me in one of my Social Security hearings this morning. First, a little background in Social Security hearing procedures for those who are unfamiliar with how the Social Security Administration prepares a file for a disability hearing. The Social Security hearing office will gather medical records and scan these records into a computer file and the…
Our firm recently was successful in U.S. District Court on a Social Security case where the Social Security judge misidentified the claimant’s past relevant work. In Social Security disability cases the burden is on the disabled person to prove that they can no longer perform their past relevant work. Once it is proven that a claimant can perform the past…
There was an interesting case out of Michigan last week that could potentially affect Social Security disability applicants in Tennessee. The case is Blankenship vs. Commissioner of Social Security. Blankenship applied for disability in 2002 claiming she was unable to work due to impairments with her feet. She appeared before a Social Security Judge in 2004 who denied her claim…