Choosing a Qualified Georgia
Social Security Disability Attorney
The number of lawyers who regularly appear before Social Security judges is relatively small - far fewer, for example than the number of lawyers who handle divorces or injury claims. How, then, do you know if the lawyer you are considering knows what he or she is doing? Does it matter if your lawyer lives and practices in Georgia? Should you be concerned if your lawyer handles only a few cases a year?
Most experienced disability lawyers will advise you that you should not assume that it will be easy to change lawyers if you are not happy. If you decide to change lawyers and the first lawyer will not waive his fee, then the second lawyer will have to go through a time consuming fee petition process and you may end up paying legal fees to two lawyers.
Ginsberg Law Offices is a family owned law firm in Atlanta, Georgia. Its two principals, Jonathan and Jodi Ginsberg, are husband and wife each with more than 20 years of experience. Our staff is experienced and stable with many years of experience working with us. Obviously, Jodi and Jonathan believe that our approach offers our clients the best mix of experience and personal service.
There are a number of knowledgeable and experienced Social Security disability lawyers who practice in Georgia disability hearing offices, and when you are considering law firms, we suggest that you keep the following questions in mind:
- Does the lawyer practice Social Security disability as a main part of his/her practice? Social Security law used to be an area that a general practitioner could dabble in, but no more. Social Security disability practice now requires extensive knowledge about medical issues and vocational issues. Further, SSA has its own procedures for electronically submitting medical records as well as pre-hearing briefs and other documents. While you may still see a general “family lawyer” on a TV show, in reality, most real life lawyers have made the choice to limit their practices to one or two areas. At Ginsberg Law, Jonathan handles Social Security disability and personal bankruptcy cases only, and Jodi handles Social Security, workers’ compensation and injury cases only.
- Does the lawyer live and practice in Georgia? If you watch daytime television, you will see ad after ad from several national Social Security law firms. These firms do not have staff or office locations in Georgia and all of the work is done in an out of state location. When it comes time for your hearing, these national firms will either fly in a lawyer for the day or hire a contract lawyer to appear with you at your hearing. In either case you will not get the in-office pre-hearing meeting that you get with Jonathan or Jodi, and the first time you will meet your lawyer will be about 5 minutes prior to your hearing. You will also have no assurance that your lawyer has appeared before the judge assigned to your case or that your lawyer has even met the judge before. At Ginsberg Law, we have appeared dozens of times before just about every judge who hears disability cases in Georgia disability hearing offices. We have also appeared before the judges from the national video hearing center who may preside over your case at a video hearing. We also know and have experience with the vocational expert witnesses and medical expert witnesses who are on the witness panels at the local hearing offices.
- Does the lawyer have experience with your type of claim? Social Security disability cases can involve any number of medical issues. In our many years of practice, Jodi and Jonathan have seen just about every medical and mental health problem imaginable - from common ailments like spine problems or diabetes to rarer conditions like polycythemia vera or complex regional pain syndrome. Not only have we researched multiple medical and mental health issues, but we have written up case studies and case strategies describing actual cases we have tried and our approach to the most common problems we see. Jonathan and Jodi spend the extra time writing up case studies and strategies because we want to educate our clients and involve them in the presentation of their cases.
- Is your lawyer well respected within the community of Social Security disability lawyers? Ginsberg Law offers an unequaled amount of information about Social Security disability. We publish and maintain over 15 web sites and blogs dedicated to Social Security issues. Jonathan regularly serves on the faculty of leading legal continuing education providers and he teaches a course entitled “Creating a Social Security disability practice” at the online education portal Solo Practice University. Jonathan has also published two “how to” books about Social Security disability - the Disability Answer Guide and the Child SSI Disability Answer Guide. We are also sustaining members of NOSSCR (the National Organization of Social Security Claimant’s Representatives).
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