West Coast Disability Law Group, LLP, is a law firm. This means that
attorneys who went to law school and passed the California Bar Examination are
handling each and every case at our firm. While this may seem obvious to some
claimants, please be cautious when deciding who is going to represent you.
There are some companies that employ non-attorney representatives, or
advocates, who did not attend law school and/or pass a bar exam to represent
their clients. Some of these companies are not open about the fact that you
will not be represented by an attorney. This is often alarming to many claimants.
We get a lot of last minute calls to represent claimants at their hearings
after they discover the people they hired to represent them from other
companies are not in fact attorneys or even law firms.
How can non-attorney representatives legally handle Social Security
Disability claims you may ask? Both the Social Security Administration and the
Veteran’s Administration started programs in which non-attorneys, or advocates,
could represent claimants at hearing, and receive the same fee as an attorney
for this representation, if they passed a simple multiple choice test. Thus,
non-attorney advocates are able to represent claimants in both Social Security
Disability and Veteran’s Disability claims at the lower levels of the
disability process. If your claim should be denied at the lower levels of the
Social Security Disability process and you need to appeal your claim to Federal
Court, an attorney can take your claim to this next level. A non-attorney
representative cannot represent claimants in Federal Court. Thus, a
non-attorney representative can only handle Social Security Disability cases up
to a certain level.
Our policy at West Coast Disability Law Group, LLP, is that we only hire licensed
attorneys to represent our clients. We feel that a legal education is valuable
in any legal arena whether it be in securing Social Security Disability
benefits or Supplemental Security Income. Hearings involve making arguments to
Social Security Administrative Law Judges and cross-examining expert witnesses
like doctors and vocational experts. In our experience, individuals without a
legal background have difficulty presenting skillful arguments and effectively
cross-examining expert witnesses. Thus, Cari and I believe that the best policy
is to let attorneys handle legal matters as this is exactly what they are
trained to do.
Whether you decide to hire a non-attorney representative or a lawyer is
up to you. However, we recommend asking these questions before you hire anyone:
1. Are you
a licensed attorney?
2. What is
your experience handling Social Security Disability claims?
3. How do
you determine whether or not you take a claim?
4. Do you
review evidence before taking my case?
5. Do you
have contracts working with any long-term disability companies who may be
trying to deny me other types of benefits?
You want to make sure you hire a knowledgeable representative or attorney
who is working for you and you alone. These above questions will help you
figure out which representative is right for you.
Got a question that you need answered?
Please check out our website at www.westcoastdisability.com . We try to
provide you with valuable information on our website that may help you navigate
the Social Security Disability process. Also, feel free to shoot us an email at
info@westcoastdisability.com or call us at (800) 459-3017.
