The entire process regarding Social Security disability application can oftentimes be extremely overwhelming and stressful, which can be even more difficult if it couples with the fact that your health is suffering as a result of it even more. That being said though, while there definitely are ways for you to go through this application alone, and you aren’t legally required to hire a lawyer, there are plenty of reasons why doing so is going to help you immensely.
So, what are the roles and responsibilities of a disability lawyer like Joshua Goldberg and exactly and how can they help you? Well, these attorneys are skilled professionals that have experience in dealing with cases similar to yours, and hence, they are well versed in handling the entire case from start to finish.
In order to help you understand their roles and responsibilities a bit better, in this article, we are going to talk about the most prominent ones.
Assessing An Initial Review Of Your Case
One of the first things that your attorney is going to do upon hiring, no matter where you are currently in the application process, is to review your case thoroughly in order to assess what needs to be done further.
This step is crucial since many people tend to overlook essential details in their case. As experts on this topic over at LaPorte Law Firm explain, this is due to the fact that people without background knowledge in law just don’t have enough experience to be able to make sense of different finesses that come into building a good application, like a compelling background story for instance. That being said though, a high-quality attorney has more than enough experience in order to build a case in such a manner that it boosts the probability of everything going well exponentially.
Helping You Build And Complete Your Application
Reviewing the initial application and assessing further strategy is the first role of your disability attorney, and what follows is building that application properly.
It is well known that one of the most frequent mistakes made by those who are applying for Social Security disability benefits is that incomplete claims tend to be filed, and a large number of qualified applicants end up being denied during the initial stages of the process. In order to prevent this from happening, your lawyer is going to ensure that you have done everything that needs to be done appropriately.
Collecting Evidence On Your Behalf
Having appropriate medical evidence is the most important building block in your case. This is why, after you have signed a medical records release, an experienced lawyer is going to help you gather the relevant medical evidence that is necessary for your application.
Your disability lawyer is going to review all of your relevant medical records and will work with you in order to collect any missing medical tests if necessary. Even more importantly, they are going to review the hundreds of pages of these medical records and other documents so that they can determine which information is most important and how it should ultimately be presented.
Filing Appeals
Did you know that data from the Social Security Administration (SSA) suggest that less than 40% of Social Security disability applications end up being approved at the initial application level? Considering the fact that this is something that happens quite often, you shouldn’t be alarmed if it happens to you since you can appeal the decision.
Now, as with everything when it comes to cases like these, there are several different steps in the appeals process, and naturally, all of them must be completed within a certain time period. Your attorney is going to make this process way easier by providing you guidance on what should be done, when, and how.
Representing You At Hearings
Here’s the thing, hearings are vital when it comes to social security disability claims, in fact, the majority of them are actually won at the hearing level. That being said, if it just so happens that you have been denied disability benefits, and you appeal to this decision, you are going to be offered a hearing in front of an administrative law judge.
Now, these hearings are intrinsically stressful, which is exactly why preparation is critical – and your lawyer will ensure that you are as prepared for your hearing as you possibly can be. Sure, you still need to speak for yourself when you’re at your hearing, but an attorney is able to represent you at the conference. In addition to that, your lawyer is going to ask questions of your witnesses.
When it comes to cases like these, many people find that the only way to lower the stress and ensure that your applications result in a best-case scenario is to have proper guidance, and disability attorneys are as good a source of that guidance as they get.
After reading this article, you have been able to learn in more depth about what you’re getting when you hire such a lawyer, and now, you are able to make a way more informed decision when assessing whether you should proceed with hiring one yourself.
