only 6 of 100 cases heard by the ALJ gets to the Appeals Board and only 1 of every 100 make it to Federal Court. Considering the number of SS applications and the number that are heard by ALJ's yearly....well you can figure out the statiscal odds. Also most attorneys or advocates will not proceed any further than the ALJ because it ties up too many of their assets and because the max they can collect is 25% of the backpay ordered or a max of $5,247.00. These people work on quantity. Sorry to burst anyone's bubble but after 4 years and a lot of research...these are the facts.