Try to find an attorney that does not charge a fee unless you win your case. There are quite a few that do this. My attorney collected 25% of my backpay. I applied in Sept of 09 and was not approved until March of this year so be patient. The average time before you get and answer is about 5 months. Mine was a little longer because my case was selected for review by the SSA's quality control review board(I don't remember the exact name)and that held it up for about a month.