David Throesch Law Firm
How do I decide who should represent me in my
Social Security Disability Case
The first thing you should do when picking someone to represent you is ask them if they are an attorney or if they are an advocate. An advocate is not an attorney. They are someone who has passed a test given by the Social Security Administration.
You may ask why this matters. If the advocate passed the test then why not get them as your representative? There are several reasons not to get an advocate to represent you. An advocate cannot appeal your case to Federal Court if they lose the case at the Administrative level. The Administrative Law Judges know that an advocate cannot appeal their denial to Federal Court whereas an attorney can. In close cases, this means the judge, in the case of an advocate, doesn’t have to worry about being told by a Federal Judge that they made a mistake.
If you have an attorney, the judge knows their denial can be appealed to Federal Court and will in general be more cautious about denying your case. You should also be aware that in order to become an attorney a person generally needs 4 years of college and 3 years of law school. An advocate doesn’t even have to have a college degree.
Second, you should not base your decision strictly on advertising. It became possible for advocates to get paid to represent claimants in about 2012. It took a while for large companies to get into the business. They will spend millions of dollars producing slick ads which air numerous times a day. They will then look around for advocates to actually represent the claimant. These corporations are also not found by the same ethical standards as attorneys. They will call people over 50 or they know has been in an accident or is sick. This is conduct an attorney is not allowed to do. They also do not have a code of conduct they have to follow and have no punishment for violations.
The David Throesch Law Firm also spends several thousands of dollars in advertising, but is happy to report that over 70% of new clients were referred to the firm by previous clients.
David Throesch has been a Social Security Disability attorney for over 40 years and has won thousands of cases. Does he win all of his cases? No he does not, but he has one of the highest winning rates in the nation.