How to Choose a Social Security Lawyer

Do you know how to choose a Social Security Lawyer? If you’re in the process of applying for Social Security Disability, or if you’ve already applied and are looking to get a bit more help for an appeal – then the following criteria can help you select the best Social Security lawyer for your case.

Work With Someone That Makes You Comfortable

The first and maybe most important factor in picking a Social Security lawyer is overcoming the initial fear factor of reaching out for help.

Let’s be honest, most of the time the first person called is the attorney with the commercial on TV or that website that shows up on the top of Google. However, as we’ve learned in our firm, a lot of clients gravitate towards representatives that can understand them. For instance, if you’re seeking to claim PTSD and already apprehensive about reaching out for help, getting someone on the other end of the phone that has an imposing persona very easily could lead to trouble at many points during the claims process.

A Social Security claim or appeal can be complex, it’s very important that you have confidence in your lawyer, but also that you have the impression that you can communicate with them or their office without worrying about how they might view, judge, or aggravate your impairments.

Be careful to choose a lawyer that doesn’t intimidate you in any way. You’re going through a tough enough process, keep the barriers to your relationship low, and the trust factor high.

How Much Can You Trust Your Disability Attorney?

The things that generate trust vary widely from one person to the next. However, there are some basic principles that everyone can rely upon when determining if a given Social Security Lawyer is trustworthy.

Review Videos on their Website

The internet has been around for a while at this point. As have digital cameras. The old saying “a picture is worth a thousand words” is just as true today as when it was coined. In fact, it might even be truer today than ever. Consider how a picture helps to establish rapport and trust.

You want a disability lawyer that shows you they know what they’re doing. They are respectable and respected. And they will be the best champion for your fight, right? That’s why every attorney, doctor, consultant, author, etc. has a professional picture of themselves somewhere on their website. But one of the biggest problems is that pictures can (and are) staged. However, an authentic video is much harder to fake.

Check out the prospective disability attorney’s Facebook and YouTube channels. First off, do they even have social media at all? And on those channels, see if they have videos sharing insights, talking to clients, answering questions. Sometimes these videos will also be on the lawyer’s website or blog as well.

Watching how the lawyer answers questions will give you a lot more than a picture – at least in helping you to build an idea of who they are and how they communicate.

Ask yourself, “is this someone that can communicate my challenges, is this someone I can communicate my challenges to?”

A short video will usually give you an enormous amount of insight into answering those questions.

Read Their Disability Blog if They Have One

When seeking insight into a disability lawyer’s persona don’t forget to look at the extras on their website. Blogs, especially, will tell you how committed they are to sharing information with you.

Is their website a bunch of short questions with hooks at the end of each one? If so, how does that help you, as a potential client, to understand the processes involved in your claim? Alternatively, do they have a wealth of information about all aspects of your claim, and questions you hadn’t even thought to ask yet in their blog or newsletter? Six months from now when you’re wondering what your chances are of succeeding, this might be exactly what you need to keep your spirits high.

A blog may not be what you initially thought of when thinking, “how do I pick a Social Security lawyer,” but now that you’re in the search, take a look around and see who’s keeping their clients and future clients informed and who’s just fishing for the next client.

Capacity: Can Your Disability Attorney Make Time For You?

Would you rather be a big fish in a small pond or a small fish in a big pond? Think about this for a moment.. this is something that can help you to identify what type of disability lawyer or disability law firm to work with.

One might argue that a huge firm with many thousands of cases is big because they are good. They certainly have the advertising budget to portray that success. However, the continued existence of many hundreds, or even thousands, of community disability lawyers fly in the face of that sentiment. At the end of the day, you can deal with one bureaucracy (huge firm) to fight another one (SSA), or you can work with a personalized firm who remembers your name when you call.

It comes back to that question, big fish or small fish? The small fish sometimes has a hard time being heard.

Is Your Disability Firm Responsive to Your Questions?

In response to the big fish/small fish question, you do, at some, point want to consider how responsive your disability lawyer will be to your unique needs. Hint, they have to recognize that you indeed do have unique needs in the first place.

Like a Dr. Office, it’s probably not reasonable that the attorney can stop immediately talking to one patient (client) to take a call from another. That’s why staff and client liaisons exist. However, it is reasonable and should be necessary, to have an attorney that is available to talk, within a reasonable amount of time.

Can you call the firm and get a response from the attorney in a reasonable amount of time? Can you schedule a time to actually come into the firm and talk to the lawyer that’s representing you? Not everyone can…

Being able to communicate, even briefly, is something you’re going to want to do as a disability hearing approaches.

You Should Seek Out Someone That Will Help You During The Challenge of Your Disability Claim

During the course of your claim (or appeal), there will be curveballs thrown your way. Whether those curveballs originate from within the claim itself or they happen to come from directions yet unseen, you want someone on your side that “knows someone.”

One of the best things about working with an experienced and established disability lawyer is that you’re also working with their network. A good lawyer doesn’t gain experience by being an island unto themselves. They often work with partners in similar fiends to increase the effectiveness of their own services.