While you are not required to hire an attorney to assist you at your disability hearing, an experienced social security attorney will greatly improve your chances of winning your claim. In fact, statistics show that a disability claimant (applicant) who is represented by an attorney at the hearing level is twice as likely to be approved than an unrepresented claimant.
The process of appealing an SSD denial is complicated, time-consuming and frustrating. Additionally, there’s a lot of paperwork involved in the process, and many claimants fill out the forms improperly and fail to submit them in a timely manner. Either of these errors can have serious consequences. At the very least, you’ll suffer a delay of months. In some cases, mistakes can actually result in the dismissal of your claim. A competent social security attorney has the working knowledge of these complex rules and regulations and can use them to your best advantage.
The bottom line is that there’s a significantly higher incidence of benefits being awarded in cases with professional representation than those in which the claimants represent themselves.