Social Security Disability

Social Security Disability

 
"Five Whys" to consider Giannet Law Firm, P.A. for Your Social Security Disability Claim

At Giannet Law Firm, I have devoted the greatest portion of my legal practice exclusively to helping the sick and disabled obtain their social security disability benefits. I believe that when a person cannot work due to their medical problems or if they have a disabled child, they have questions, they are struggling and they need help. The Social Security Disability system was enacted to provide monetary and insurance benefits to such individuals. Whether a person qualifies for aid is not a simple answer.   

I have represented the disabled before all levels of the Social Security Administration including the Social Security Administration district offices, Florida Department of Disability Determinations medical adjudicators, the Office of Hearings and Operations, formerly known as the Office of Disability Adjudication and Review, the Appeals Council and the federal courts including the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida. 

From filing a claim to appealing it, I have the knowledge and experience to navigate through the multiple legal hurdles that you will encounter.

I'd like to proudly, yet humbly, offer some information about my law firm and why you should please consider me to represent you.  

First, it is important to select an attorney with a good reputation and extensive legal experience.  We are honored that our law firm is well-esteemed and that I have a high degree of experience with social security disability.

Second, as a small law firm, we can devote more personalized and individualized attention to our clients and their cases.  No matter how many clients or cases we have, we understand that yours is the only case you have.  When you call, you'll talk to me.  When you have a hearing, I will represent you.  I will know all about your conditions, your case and the reasons why you cannot work. I'll have time to talk to you and listen to you. 

Unlike at some large law firms, where cases may get shuffled among multiple people, as your attorney, I'll know you, by name, not by social security number, reference number or case number. You won't be assigned a person to work on your case based on the letter of the alphabet, the last 4 numbers of your social security number or birth date. They won't be a person who has taken a couple courses about social security disability and been given a fancy title like case manager or claims handler. You'll have me as your Attorney. You and your case will be given my individualized attention.  The only other person who will ever touch your case file or talk to you and assist me with your case is my legal eagle brother Billy who went to law school and obtained a Juris Doctorate of Law and a Masters of Business Administration and is a Florida Supreme Court Civil Circuit Court Mediator.  Of course, you will also receive your reminder and homework calls from your legal team's mom, Dina.

Third, the Social Security disability claims process is a complicated and overwhelming one for any claimant to handle on their own or with an advocate with limited experience or by someone working from a distance in some other state. There are some large companies and those designated as nationwide whose representatives or lawyers use their online links to draw clients to their website for application of benefits or appeals. I urge you to please exercise caution when clicking on one of those sites or hiring one of those nationwide firms.  

They may ask you to sign representation contracts via e-sign or docu-sign which does not even produce your legal signature. You should only sign official social security documents with your actual paper and ink signature. There is only one official government Social Security Administration website for applying for benefits or appealing denials. The link is contained in our resource section. I have heard from many disabled persons who think they are entering the Social Security Administration website for their claim, when in fact they are entering a private company's website and then somehow those companies begin to represent the client. Before you consider hiring them, you should ask them where they are located and have they appeared before the local administrative law judges who will be hearing your case? The answer is usually that they are somewhere far from where you are and they may travel here for your hearing.  Oftentimes, they even pass your case to a local attorney or non attorney claims representative and get a share of a fee if that person wins your case.  

Another point of caution is that some of those big or small companies, regardless of where they are located, are not lawyers but non lawyer representatives authorized to practice before the Social Security Administration in a limited manner. That is permitted by law.  However, some of their advertisements, web pages, online reviews and online listings even improperly reference social security legal services, social security disability attorney or law firm when in fact they are not.  That is not permitted.  These "advocates" have taken an easy test just to be approved to receive a payment if they win your case. They may even claim that they are specialists in social security disability.  They are also not governed by the same ethical rules and regulations that attorneys must follow.  Their advertising is also not governed by the ethical restrictions that attorneys are bound to follow.  They are not lawyers and have not been to law school.  Before you sign an appointment of representation form with a non attorney, you should make sure that it comports with the law and clearly designates the non attorney status. Regardless of who you hire, please ask the right questions to know exactly who will be representing you and what their credentials are.  You should also ask who in the lawyer's office or law firm will be assisting the attorney with your case and their credentials and experience.

A helpful analogy applies. In the medical profession, a nurse practitioner or physician's assistant may have knowledge of medicine and how to treat a patient, but a licensed physician who has gone to medical school and obtained a medical degree has undergone more schooling and has a vastly broader level of knowledge, experience and competence to treat their patients. When your life is at stake, who would you prefer? Similarly, while a claims representative or non lawyer may be quite competent and represent a disabled party, an attorney or lawyer has a much higher level of skill and knowledge and can more adeptly represent a disabled party, especially before an administrative law judge at a hearing. Furthermore, only an attorney licensed in the federal courts can appeal a denied disability claim to the federal courts having appellate jurisdiction. I am an attorney licensed in Florida for 27 years, and I am admitted to practice before all the federal courts listed in my profile page.  

Fourth, I am diligently committed to personal and professional representation. There are many social security disability representatives and attorneys, who speak to their clients for the first time in court right before a disability hearing and have a brief pre-hearing consultation right before they go into the judge's chambers. In court hearings, I will be the one with you and I will know you and speak to you numerous times before the hearing.  

Fifth, the Social Security disability claims process is comprised of several stages governed by federal regulations and laws. Additionally, the Social Security Administration is a large federal agency governed by its own set of regulations and procedures. There are numerous individuals within that agency that will be reviewing your case, including government retained doctors who might examine you. I am knowledgeable in applying all of these complicated regulations to a disability claim and representing the disabled throughout the claims process. I have vast knowledge and many years of experience in applying specific laws to specific medical conditions. I have significant experience in hearing advocacy, studying medical evidence, eliciting honest and truthful testimony at hearings from disability applicants, cross examining government medical experts and vocational experts and arguing client cases before the judges and courts.  

Among my prior positions in the government sector, I had the great privilege and honor to serve as a federal judicial law clerk in the United States Appeals Court for the Eleventh Circuit, which is one of the appellate courts immediately below the United States Supreme Court which is the highest court. In that capacity, I assisted my assigned judge in reviewing and researching social security disability appeals that were appealed to one of the highest federal court levels. This experience, coupled with my service as a state judicial staff attorney, state general magistrate and city special master have greatly contributed to my ability to analyze cases from both an attorney advocacy and judicial perspective for the benefit of my clients.  

I understand that the hiring of an attorney is a difficult decision and should not be based solely on an advertisement. I believe that these factors differentiate me and my law firm from the huge selection of others, especially in a time where people find their attorneys online and there are so many to choose from. I would welcome the opportunity to possibly represent you.  


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