The requirements are reduced slightly at 50 and 55, but this may not help you. Many have agreed to change their onset date, so that they'll be approved when they reach age 50 or 55. With that many years of trying to get approval, you would not only lose a heck of alot of backpay, but you may not even still be eligible if you haven't worked this entire time. Your attorney should be able to address this.

And getting outside help generally just speeds the process up and nothing more. I posted some links and explanations on pg 5 of the sticky "Don't start your application unprepared." that may help you. If you dig through Janke's posts, you'll learn a wealth of information.