Because Social Security Disability is an area of administrative law, it is acceptable to have somebody that is not a licensed attorney represent you. Although there is a way for non-attorney representatives to be credentialed, you don’t even have to be credentialed to represent someone before an administrative law judge or simply handle their claim. But the reality is, it is an area of law that can be extremely sophisticated. There are federal codes that govern the area and there is federal case law that interprets those codes. At Shook & Stone, we believe the way for these claims to be handled is for attorneys to represent claimants, not non-attorneys and not un-credentialed people. This is the practice of law. It is highly sophisticated. It requires advocacy, not only on paper in the form of briefing, but also in the form of advocacy in front of an administrative law judge. We think attorneys do the best job. Another benefit to retaining a law firm vs. a non-attorney rep. for your claim is that if you lose your claim at the administrative law judge/hearing level, there is the opportunity to appeal it to federal district court. If a person is not a licensed attorney, they can’t file that complaint.
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