Wednesday, March 21, 2012

New Policy: Administrative Law Judges not Revealed until Hearing

It seems that nobody can leave well enough alone in the world of Social Security.  There’s been much resistance to the newly instituted policy of  advising who the Judge is going to be for a hearing until one actually shows up for the hearing. Obviously, this has been objected to very strongly by practicing Attorneys for multiple reasons since it greatly affects the ability to adequately represent a client. Ostensibly, the reason for the rule is to prevent Attorneys from “forum shopping” in trying to get a favorable Judge.  One of the reasons you get an Attorney is because that Attorney is familiar with the Judges and their idiosyncrasies.  There are some Judges that I absolutely will not try a case with if I can avoid it.  It is not unusual to find some Judges that have a denial rate of 80% – 90% of their cases or more.  I just can’t advise a client to go ahead with a Social Security hearing when the Judge is going to look for any possible reason to deny the claim.   

There is a website provided by the Social Security Administration which gives the “allowance rates” of the various Administrative Law Judges.  This is one of the resources I routinely use and have used in the past in advising my clients on what the most appropriate course of action might be.  I personally think a client’s chance for a fair hearing should not depend on playing “Russian Roulette” with what Judge shows up.  Currently, the National Organization for Social Security Claimant’s Representatives (NOSSCR) is attempting to get this Social Security rule changed.

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