Quote:
Originally Posted by soccertese
did i hire the wrong law firm?
so here i am again, relying on the kindness of strangers.
1. hired them based on a presentation they gave at a parkinson's support group,
3. went in for an interview, wanted to meet someone and see their office, it was nice and in an office building where rent wasn't cheap. gave my report to paralegal along with proof i had pd, figured they wanted to see it, plus my tax returns and what IRS transcripts I could get from the IRS, figured they wanted proof.
4. paralegal glanced at my paperwork, we talked about my chances of getting ssdi, then she asked if i wanted to fill out a claim on-line, that kind of surprised me but said "sure".
5. she asked me what date i "became" disabled and i said 10/01/2011 since that was the last day i received income from my job, i
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1. they seemed to miss the problem i was going to have with the tax returns, i brought this up in the first meeting, not the 3year3month15day problem which i didn't know about but they should have known about that?
2. they filed the claim during my first visit, it was by chance i brought something proving i had pd. i found that odd that they didn't want any proof about my disability on the first visit.
3. after the SSA claim was denied, i was given a different paralegal, no phone call, just an email from this person with a list of questions to answer. i emailed that person a few times, called, said i had questions about the questions, no call back, got a call from the first paralegal saying my paralegal was on vacation.
4. so, answered the questions the best i could, emailed them to this person and said i still had some questions about my answers.
5. no call back, got an email from this person saying thanks for my answers, they had filed the appeal and had included the letter from my GP, but not my neuro, even though there was one mentioned by SSA in the denial letter.
so i guess my question is, is any other firm going to be any better? nice people but hard to get a call back, they don't apologize, it's like their not returning my calls never happened.
i'm assuming they will kick into high gear when i get to the court phase
TIA for any advice.
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Hi Soccertese,
First of all, I am the last person that would step up to defend attys, due to some very bad experiences I have personally had with them on the few occasions I have had the need for their services.
THAT being said, sometimes our expectations and inadequate communications are a source of discord between client and atty.
Law firms that deal almost exclusively with disability cases have a set course of action and procedures that they follow. Is it what we expect? Probably not. Through much research and my own experience, I have learned these firms generally ALL operate in a similar manner.
Some do not take a disability case until your denial of initial application, others may take a case from the onset.
There is an
initial interview process, at which time generally, a determination of any possible viability of claim is assessed. They do not want to accept a claim that has NO merit and can NOT be won for whatever reason that may be.
The next step is getting a
fee agreement signed by you and accepted by SSA. They are not going to go further without that agreement. Once you have signed that agreement, in order to change to another firm, it is my belief that you would need a release from the agreement you signed, otherwise, you may be held contractually for payment to the first firm. I do not think you can just walk away and hire someone else. My thinking here is, the NEW firm would need a signed agreement from you that would again need to be approved by SSA, and then you have two agreements in front of SSA. Would SSA approve the 2nd one? I don't know but I think they would want a release on the first one before approving a second one. Again, this is my opinion, I do not know the regs on this.
Sticking with the same firm to continue the step process of attys.
After an appeal is filed, assuming the initial application has been denied, the atty will
gather information for your claim. This includes medical records, medical source statements from your treating physicians, and any other information the atty feels will be necessary for your claim. Your attorney will have access to your social security earnings record and your claim file.
When your hearing date nears and is close in time, your atty (having all infomation at hand, including the most recent) will review your entire record and
lay out the strategy for the hearing and may meet with you in preparation for the hearing. Some may NOT meet with you before the hearing but some do.
As I mentioned in a prior post to your situation, you need to be proactive with your atty if you have expectations that are not being met. We all have preconceived ideas of what the atty is doing or should be doing and that may not be consistent with the manner and procedures they actually follow.
Keep in mind, since they do this day in and day out, for many years, they do have a "system" and procedures in place and follow them. We, as the client, do not know their "system" and have our own thoughts and expectations.
Ask questions, express yourself and your concerns, express your expectations. Neither of you, the atty or the client, are mind readers. There must be communication and a thorough understanding of the communication.
Be sure you understand the terminology that the atty uses. I had a lengthy discussion over the phone with my atty due to a mis-understanding on a term used.
As you have seen in the various posts to your threads, there is much confusion, especially when abbreviations and acronyms are used and are frequently used incorrectly.
This post has nothing to do with the rules and regulations concerning SSA and disability. I am only addressing working with a law firm.
If you change to another firm, I am afraid you will find it very similar. The big firms that deal exclusively with disability claims generally use the same procedures and systems that have been developed by them over the many years they have been in practice.
Research the financial aspects of changing firms before you take that step.
There were times my atty did not meet MY expectations but I took steps to address my needs.
In a big firm, you will be a "number" to them, but you are not looking for someone to be your pal, you want someone to be your advocate. That is what they do.