Main Reason for Hiring a Sarpy County Disability Attorney
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One of the most important services a disability attorney will provide you with is the effective cross-examination of a vocational expert (VE) on the day of your disability claim appeal hearing.
First, the VE will discuss the evidence found in your claim file with the judge, ultimately making a recommendation on what jobs, if any, he or she believes you would be capable of performing despite your documented impairments. If the VE recommends a job and his or her recommendations go unchallenged, your claim will probably be denied.
The Strategy
One of a disability attorney’s key tasks is to get the VE to reconsider and dismiss any other job titles they recommend. The ultimate goal is to get the VE to say there aren’t any jobs currently on the market that you could perform. Often, the attorney does this by asking the expert about aspects of the job or your impairments that were neglected in his or her original testimony.
That means the attorney needs to know a great deal about:
- Your case history.
- The documents in your claim file.
- The functions of any job that the VE might suggest.
- What kind of information tends to get neglected in a VE’s testimony.
What’s involved in effective cross-examination?
Every client is different. Accordingly, every cross-examination will require a specially targeted approach. To allow us to do that, we frame our strategy in fundamental philosophies, such as:
- Knowing our clients – Knowing your work history, the nature of your impairments, and the sorts of obstacles you deal with on a daily basis.
- Knowing the system – It’s important to have a sense of how the decision-makers involved with your case think – how they process information, what their procedures are. Chances are, an experienced attorney will have previously worked with the judges, witnesses, and other professionals involved with your case.
- Being prepared – The time to gather information about a client’s situation is in the weeks and months before the appeal hearing, not once we’re already in the hearing office.
- Knowing how to guide and control the witness’s testimony – We use direct questions in easy to understand language – and use the cross-examination process as a tool to build a strong case.
If you’ve been trying to understand the Social Security disability application or appeal process and are feeling lost, consider hiring a skilled Sarpy County disability attorney before taking the next step. For a free evaluation, contact Cuddigan Law at 402-933-5405 or [email protected]. We also offer a FREE report: Give Yourself the Best Chance of Winning Your Social Security Disability Case. Call us today!
