Anyone have a recommendation for one in Huntsville? I found good reviews for Kenneth Hampton, but thought I would put out a feeler here. My wife was denied full time disability benefits by SS. Doesn't matter that she has not been able to work for more than two years due to her medical condition. SS response was basically, "You're White and College Educated, therefore you can find a job".

On the other hand, if anyone has a job for a white, college educated (BBA in Business from Texas Tech) female, that cannot lift a gallon of milk, is on full time pain management, cannot drive, and has a partially paralyzed right arm, please PM me.

Good luck and with the right help you should be able to prevail. I have always been told that the first time you apply for SSD that you're denied and have to jump thru all the major hoops. I don't have any idea if that is true though.

Not sure if he is in Huntspatch, my wife went to school with Tim Zanaty, seems to be a good fella that specializes in SS disability.

Pitts and Zanaty are about the best. They go all over the state.

You are probably already aware, but just make sure that you file a request for hearing on her behalf within the 60 day period after the initial denial. If you don't file an appeal in that window, she will have to start over again and will lose the ability to get back benefits going any further back than when she was denied.

My mom had an accident involving a riding lawnmower about 2 years ago that left her immobilized for nearly a year and a half. Had to leave her job of 23 years at uab. She actually applied for SS was denied and she appealed it and stayed busy with all the legal paperwork herself(she did grants,etc for a living for several doctors)and was eventually granted ss without going the lawyer route,She was at the point if she couldn't get it she was going to get a lawyer to just deal with all the idiots in that government agency.

TexasNative, I will reply to this thread later tonight in detail when I've got more time. Short answer is Kenneth Hampton is the ONLY lawyer I would call. Period.

More to come...

And my wife worked (operative is that she was still working at the time) with an African American woman who applied and was approved OVER THE PHONE. Yet my Father in Law couldn't get it when he was dying of terminal colon cancer. Well that is not entirely true. They did approve his appeal after he died.

Ok, here's the deal. I was a Claims Rep. at SS and took disability claims, appeals, etc. If your wife has only been denied on her first attempt, you should seriously consider filing the appeal yourself. Attorney's are really not needed on an initial appeal. Appeals in the state of Alabama go to an administrative law judge (ALJ). When an attorney files an (initial) appeal, they do all the paperwork (about 1 1/2 hours worth) and then wait on an ALJ to make a decision. Good attorneys will actually make sure all of your medical records are sent in the first time.

But here's the rub - attorney's only get paid via a percentage of the back pay owed to a claimant who gets approved on appeal. So, it is to the attorney's advantage for a claimant to get denied on an appeal, and then get approved later (third level of appeal is to an appeals council in Falls Church, VA.). The longer the claimant is on appeal, the more backpay they are owed, and the attorney gets paid more because the backpay continues to accrue over time. There is a max amount an attorney can receive, which is $5,300. If I remember correctly, they are allowed up to 25% of the claimant's backpay.

TexasNative, back to your wife specifically. If I were you, I would file the appeal on the initial denial ASAP. There is a time limit that the appeal has to be filed by, but I don't remember what it is (I haven't worked there since July 2009. Thank God for that!). If you decide you want an attorney, I would recommend Kenneth Hampton, and here's why. Attorney's have the right to come into a SS office and review a claimant's file - essentially checking it to make certain that everything is in there that needs to be. Kenneth Hampton is the ONLY attorney in Huntsville that I EVER saw do this. EVER!!! R.D. Pitts is a joke. Their method for winning their cases is simple - represent everyone who walks through their door. Sling enough scat against a wall and eventually some of it will stick. That is an ACCURATE DESCRIPTION of how they operate. Again, based on my personal observation as a claims rep in the SS office. I worked in the Huntsville SS office from FEB. 2005 to July 2009 and I NEVER met anyone from Pitts' office. Kenneth Hampton was in there on a frequent basis. From what I remember about him, he wasn't the friendliest guy in the world, but he got the job done... he had quite a few people get approved that he represented.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do. PM me if you have specific questions.

ClaimsRep, after researching I had decided on Mr Hampton. The reviews of the other firm mentioned here were not very good. Being new here, I didn't know if there were other attorneys I should consider before hiring Mr Hampton. Your above response tells me we made a good choice.

Nowadays the attorney's office can review the claimant's file at Social Security by downloading it from their website. But it is always a good idea to follow up with the legal assistant or case manager over your wife's case the closer it gets to a hearing to make sure they have all available medical.

I agree with Claims Rep that it is financially advantageous to an attorney to have a case go to the appeals council. But there is no guarantee that if the attorney lost a case at the hearing level, that they could win it at the appeals level. There have recently been changes made to evidence submission rules so that an attorney's office is required at the hearing level to submit all medical related to the case. Once the case goes to the appeals council, you generally cannot submit any new medical evidence. So unless the first judge made a cut and dry error in their decision, there is no guarantee the Appeals Council will overturn cases. Sometimes the appeals council just sends it right back to the original ALJ to hear the case again, but at that point it has been a couple years since the first decision.

I have worked in several different roles at another S.S. Disability firm here in Birmingham that represents clients all over the state. I'm on the way out now, but will still work a couple days a week. If you have any questions or for whatever reason decide that you would like to find another attorney, feel free to send me a PM.

All that for a legal US citizen that paid into the system and needs to collect at least some of what she paid in. BUT, if she were an illegal alien..........