Christian - make sure you or your rep files the Appeals Council request within the 60 day time period. Keep searching for an attorney to take your case to federal court if your current rep is unwilling to do so. You are right that the Appeals Council will take an inordinate amount of time to make a decision and hopefully in that time, you can find an attorney will to take on your claim in the 4th quarter.

You haven't mentioned SSI, but perhaps at this point, your assets and income may now be low enough for your to meet the income and resource limits for SSI and you can file a new claim for SSI only WHILE the prior claim drags on through the administrative and court appeal process. I don't know enough about your income and resources to even guess about your eligibility. If you want to send a private message, I may be able to make a good guess.

Are you sure that your Date Last Insured did not get extended by any little bits of part-time work done in the last five years?

Having a favorable 2010 disability decision won't change the decision made by the ALJ, but it could be a small factor in a finding of a later onset date (but before DLI) if your case does go to federal court.

Whatever you do, don't put a great deal of reliance on me or any other anonymous posters. We may all be giving less than accurate advice since all any of us know about your case is what you tell us.