What to look for in an attorney

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Transcription:

"Hi, my name is Andrew Kinney. I'm an attorney at Hoglund Law Offices. I practice exclusively in the area of social security disability benefits and supplemental security income, otherwise known as SSI. Today in this video I wanted to lay out what to look for in an attorney. I'm an attorney. There are other attorneys that do social security work and other things, and there are some non-attorneys that do social security work, and they may call themselves advocates or representatives. There are a lot of different people out there that can help you with your social security claim. Here are some things to think about when you are making that first call or even looking at a website.

First, are there attorneys that are licensed in the State that you are in? Why do you ask? Well, being licensed as an attorney is different than perhaps just going to law school. Also, being licensed as an attorney is perhaps the educational requirements that you may want when you are at a hearing in front of a federal judge who is also an attorney. So if you decided you want an attorney, the best way to find out is when you call is whether there are attorneys licensed in your state that go to these hearings.

The second question that might be good is: how familiar are these attorneys with this particular hearing office that would apply to your case? That's a complicated question, but the simple answer is, how often are the attorneys in that hearing office? Why does that matter? The hearing offices operate somewhat differently in the social security system. They have certain requirements that are uniform overall, but what you'll notice when you ask questions like this is that you'll get at the core of the question. Is my attorney that I will have at a social security hearing when I'm alone with a federal judge, well, is that attorney going to know the judge already? Is that attorney going to know that the judge requires a pre-hearing brief or a legal argument? Is the attorney going to know the judge in terms of whether the judge wants opening statements? Is that judge going to listen to certain arguments over others? These are part of the legal judgment that if you want an attorney at your hearing, you need to know now how familiar are these attorneys that go to these hearings in my area with this area.

Another thing to think about is, if you have an attorney at your hearing, is that attorney going to write a brief at the appeals console for me if we go to an appeals console? An appeals console is the level after the hearing. Why is that important? In my experience, if you have an attorney at a hearing, then that attorney is best suited to write an argument at the appeals console. It is a written stage, at least how it is presently set up, and the attorney at the hearing understands the cross-examination questions of the experts. The attorney at the hearing remembers the theory of the case that he or she developed, and if you are having an attorney at your hearing, you can ask whether these attorneys usually stay on the case through the appeals console level so that you can get the benefit of their memory and experience in terms of how to argue the case at the next level. Alternatively, someone could say, I don't have attorneys that handle that level; we have someone else write those. You need to make a good decision, but in my experience having continuity is important.

There is another reason to consider whether you want an attorney in your region. Some cases need to go to federal district court. That is the level after the appeals level console is exhausted. So it is application, reconsideration, hearing, appeals console, and that is the end of that as it is currently set up. The next level is a civil action, so you need to find out if the attorney at your hearing is going to be the same attorney not only at the appeals console level if we go to an appeals console, but if it's possible if you do go to federal court, is that going to be the same attorney that will argue it in federal court? If you have a non-attorney firm helping you it has to be outsourced to a law firm. So there is a continuity that you may want to have throughout this process. We don't go to federal court in all cases or even many cases; we are very selective, but that is important for you to know too. How often do you go to federal court? If you are a non-attorney firm that answer has to be zero because non-attorney firms technically cannot go to federal court.

Another thing to think about is at social security hearings at cross-examination you have experts. Another question you can ask is, and I know I'm loading this up, but think about this, if you are at a hearing office in your area of the country that you live and you are hiring an attorney and eventually you will be in front of a federal judge in a hearing room, you are going to have a job expert who is perhaps going to testify against you, but you may have a medical expert who may do the same, so how familiar are the attorneys with the vocational experts and the medical experts in your region? It is one thing to do a lot of hearings, but it is another to know the experts. Experts, like anyone else are going to have their own opinions about the same facts. You can have the same facts go through five hearings with five different experts and get perhaps a slightly different answer. It is good for your attorney in my experience to know how the experts think. What evidence that they look at that is important because the cross-examination that your attorney will do of that medical expert or job expert depends on their experience with that expert.

If I made an overriding theme in this video it is that you need an attorney that is licensed with experience in your region of the country in the hearing office where you may go to a hearing. That is the best advice that I would give to even my family. I'm giving it to you. Hopefully, you can make a good informed decision. If you want to take a look at Hoglund Law Offices website, please feel free to do so. We give information on how the law works and information about medical problems, and how social security reviews them. We try to be as exhaustive as possible. We also have different videos like this one on different topics. We have included information in blogs that touch on specific topic, feel free to look at that. Compare us to other firms that you might want to hire. That is important for you to do.

If you would like to consider hiring us, feel free to call us, there is no obligation at 1-800-850-7867. Also know that if we do help you to either apply or appeal we don't charge unless you are approved, and we don't charge anything else other than attorney's fees that are currently capped at $6,000. Look at the bottom line. If you are going to sign with an attorney make sure you understand the fee agreement. It is your right to know whether you will be charged for medical records or whether there is a minimum charge other than a quarter of back pay. You need to know how that works and good luck and make a good decision, and hopefully you can at least get better, but if not, if you can get social security benefits that would be excellent. Thank you."