COMMON MISTAKE - BELIEVING SOCIAL SECURITY EMPLOYEES ARE YOUR ADVOCATES - NOT!

Sometimes I hear individuals say, "I don't need a lawyer or advocate because the employees at the Social Security office will help me for free."

Although it is improper for them to do so, someone at Social Security may tell you that you don't need a lawyer or advocate, you can do everything yourself.  

Make no mistake about it:  Social Security employees are not your advocate.  An advocate is someone who is on your side and is dedicated to helping you win your claim.  That is not true of a Social Security employee.  They are employees of the US Government and cannot take your side in a disability claim or application.  They may provide you with information or forms, or tell you about procedures or policies--but they cannot take action to influence a favorable outcome of your claim.

Your own advocate can fight for you and try to influence the decision that Social Security makes.  Your advocate has a goal of winning your benefits for you.  Here are some things your advocate or attorney will do for you that cannot be done by a government employee:

  • map out a theory of your case to show why you are disabled and eligible for benefits under Social Security rules and regulations
  • write a brief showing how the medical evidence supports approval of your claim.
  • obtain medical source statements from your treating doctor that improves your case.
  • appear before an administrative law judge to argue why you should be paid.
  • cross examine a vocational expert to show that he/she is wrong about the kind of work they claim you can perform
  • Challenge the number of jobs in the local, regional or US economy (which can be used to deny your claim)
  • use federal court cases to show that certain conclusions reached by Social Security are in error 
While I have a lot of respect for employees of the Social Security Administration, they are NOT advocates, and they do not claim to be.  Their role is to be impartial processors of applications and gatherers of facts.  If you want somebody fighting for your rights, trying with all their might to get your benefits approved, you should get an advocate.  

The very word advocate, taken from the Latin,advocare, means "one called to give aid, a pleader."  It comes out of Roman law where an advocate was called alongside a person to render assistance to him/her in the courts.  An advocate is to plead your cause, uphold your rights, defend your interests, etc.  The New Testament uses the same word 5 times from the Greek parakletos or paravklhto to mean "one who renders aid, one who comforts."
 

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