For me, dealing with docs who were dismissive of my complaints of severe pain and having people question my "invisible disability" nd why I was applying for SSDI, often made me feel very defensive. In that mindset, it can be easy to take offense where none was intended.

What was written in the original post shows some basic knowledge of the process and certainly makes it look like you believe this lawyer's additional fees if a case goes beyond the ALJ stage are not standard. Please don't be upset that someone read your first post as more than JUST a question if these extra fees were standard. We are all trying to give an answer that we think will most help a poster.

My short answer to JUST the question of if that clause is standard is: NO.

I don't think that's the MOST helpful answer I could give bsed on everything else that you wrote in your op. I hired the only lawyer that I met with and he didn't have that clause. I haven't read on here, in my years reading/participating in this forum, about any lawyer legally charging more for a case going further.

I believe the SSA rule to be that they can charge up to (although I've never heard of a lawyer charging under) 25% of the award with a cap of $6000 PLUS certain misc fees (like for copying medical records, etc). I don't THINK the SSA makes exceptions for cases that go to the federal level, but I don't KNOW that for sure. You'd have to check that out with the SSA or hopefully one of the more knowledgeable posters here will share that info. I ws under the impression that the lawyers who do SSDI cases will have a few cases that they may only have to do minimal work on, which they'll still get paid the $6000 for if the backpay award is sufficient, and some cases that they will be required to do significantly more work on, but that it all balanced out to the $6000 being a reasonable pay stipend when multiplied by all of the cases they manage.

I would be leery of someone who charged more. I don't doubt the time they they would have to put into a case that went to the federal level would be significant, so they could be "losing" money if they were capped at $6000. I've just been under the impression that that's a risk they take when they take on a case and that they must weigh the likelihood of approval of each case before they take on each case. I would question, as you have stated you have, what their incentive would be to try to close a case quickly if they could draw it out to get more money (not that that would be ethical).

I thought the suggestion that you seemed to have some doubts about this lawyer so you should keep looking was a good one. At a minimum, you should find out if the SSA sanctions that extra fee contingency AND see if any local SSDI lawyers don't charge it.

In another post you mentioned you were thinking this will be your lawyer. What about him made you feel comfortable and confident with his abilities ? Did you get to talk about your concerns about the extra fees being standard ?

This is such a stressful process on top of dealing with the medical factors with a disability. Finding a lawyer that you feel comfortable with is crucial. None of us needs MORE stress from any source. Best wishes getting through the process.