Social Security Disability Attorney in Pittsburgh

Why should you hire one of the Social Security disability lawyers in Pittsburgh, PA from Morgan and Morgan? The reasons concern what an experienced lawyer does for you as you fight for the right to receive financial assistance to pay for the costs associated with your disability.

Reviews Your Case

During a free case evaluation, an attorney from Morgan and Morgan conducts a preliminary review to determine how to submit the most persuasive claim for disability benefits. The review detects any holes in your case that might prohibit you from getting the compensation that you deserve. You should bring copies of your medical records, as well as any document that shows how much money you have lost because you no longer can work.

Organize Medical Records

As the most important type of evidence submitted with a disability claim, your medical records determine the likelihood of you receiving financial assistance because of living with a disabling medical condition. The attorney hired to represent you organizes the results of diagnostic tests in chronological order to demonstrate that your disabling medical condition has not improved enough for you to get back to work. 

Assist You With Filing a Claim

You must complete every section of a disability application with accurate information to receive consideration for financial assistance. Just one minor error, such as leaving a section blank or submitting incorrect contact information can lead to the denial of a disability claim. By hiring one of the accomplished Social Security disability lawyers in Pittsburgh, PA from Morgan and Morgan, you submit an application that contains the most accurate medical information that pertains to your case.

Stays on Top of the Progress of Your Claim

The disability claim process can take a considerable amount of time due to the volume of applications submitted to the SSA. This can mean you might have to wait more than a year to hear back from the SSA concerning the status of your claim for financial assistance. Hiring one of the skilled disability attorneys from Morgan and Morgan ensures your application moves through the review process at an acceptable rate. When the SSA discovers that your claim is supported by an experienced disability attorney, the agency pays more attention to the progress made in reviewing your application for financial assistance.

Helps You File an Appeal

Since the SSA denies a majority of disability claims, you should search for a legal counselor who has considerable experience helping clients file appeals. The appeal process starts in the same way as the filing of your original claim, but it can advance to other stages that require the legal support of one of the best Social Security disability lawyers in Pittsburgh, PA. Your chances of getting a rejected claim decision overturned increase significantly when you hire one of the talented litigators from Morgan and Morgan.

The SSA does not use arbitrary metrics to determine the status of a disability claim. Updated annually, the Blue Book published by the SSA contains the medical conditions that qualify applicants for financial assistance. Not only must you prove that you suffer from a Blue Book-approved disability, but you also must submit evidence that your disability meets the severity of symptoms standards listed in the medical guide.

If the SSA does not decide to award you disability benefits because of a lack of evidence that you meet the Blue Book medical standards, your Morgan and Morgan disability attorney will ask the federal agency to allow you to complete a Residual Functional Capacity (RFC) assessment. An RFC assessment puts you through a series of tests that measure your physical and cognitive abilities. After completing an RFC assessment, the medical examiner from the SSA conducting the tests should be able to determine whether you can perform the same type of work that you did before experiencing the symptoms of a disabling medical condition.

The SSA provides disability applicants with four opportunities to appeal an unfavorable claim decision. Working with one of the experienced Social Security disability lawyers in Pittsburgh, PA from Morgan and Morgan considerably improves your chances of filing a successful appeal during one of four possible stages.

Request for Reconsideration

An appeal for reconsideration is simply a second review of your original claim or a review of a decision by the SSA to discontinue financial assistance. Conducted by Disability Determination Services (DDS), an appeal for reconsideration is conducted by a different team of medical examiners than the team of medical examiners that reviewed your original claim. Because the success rate of an appeal for reconsideration is lower than the success rate of an original application, you should expect the appeal process to move to the next step called an Administrative Law Judge hearing.

Administrative Law Judge Hearing

An Administrative Law Judge (ALJ hearing represents your best opportunity to get a denied disability claim approved for financial assistance. One of the Social Security disability lawyers in Pittsburgh, PA from Morgan and Morgan argues your case in front of an ALJ. The proceeding unfolds similar to a civil court case, with your legal counsel presenting medical evidence and the statements made by healthcare experts. You have 60 days from the date of receiving a denied request for reconsideration letter to file the proper documents that allow you to move to the second stage of the appeals process.

Appeals Council

If an ALJ denies your request for compensation, you move to the third stage of the appeal process, which entails asking the Appeal Council to review your case. The Appeals Council can approve your appeal if it discovers abuse of discretion committed by the ALJ who denied your appeal for disability benefits. You also might receive a favorable ruling from the Appeals Council if the ALJ reviewing your case committed an error of law or issued a decision that the evidence submitted does not support. The Appeals Council pays more attention to reviewing the legal basis used by an ALJ to issue a decision on your case than it does to reviewing the medical evidence associated with your case.

Review by a Federal Court

The last stage of the disability appeals process involves presenting your case before a federal judge. Although a federal judge reviews your case to determine the presence of procedural errors, some federal judges review denied disability claims based on facts as well. Some of the issues uncovered by a federal judge include an insufficient review of your medical condition and inaccurate assessments made by the team of medical examiners from the SSA that reviewed your original claim.

Searching for the right attorney to represent you during the Social Security disability claim process requires you to consider several factors.

Experience

Because of the large percentage of claims that come back denied by the SSA, you should only consider attorneys that have compiled a proven record of success getting their clients the compensation that they deserve. An experienced disability lawyer knows the types of medical evidence required to persuade the team of medical examiners from the SSA to approve your request for financial assistance.

Responsive Communicator

Living with a disability places a considerable amount of stress on you. The stress compounds if you hire a disability attorney who does a poor job of communicating with you. You should work with a disability lawyer who responds quickly to emails, phone calls, and text messages. This is especially important during the appeals process when you must file legal documents before the deadlines established by the SAA.

You can determine the responsiveness of a disability attorney before meeting for a free case evaluation.

Specializes in Handling Disability Cases

Some lawyers treat Social Security disability cases like someone treats a moonlighting job. They specialize in another type of law practice and use Social Security disability cases to fill in a revenue void. At Morgan and Morgan, we offer the legal support of attorneys that specialize in handling disability cases. This means you receive the best legal advice for getting a disability claim approved by the SSA.

Schedule a free case evaluation today from one of the experienced Social Security disability lawyers in Pittsburgh, PA from Morgan and Morgan.