Get everything you'll need to succeed in a disability claim with an insightful overview of the laws, definitions, procedures, and tactics involved in researching and proving impairments. This course will walk you through the major steps of the claim procedure and offer time-tested methods for selecting cases, presenting them with the SSA and coordinating SSDI with claimants' other sources of income. Build a solid foundation for your practice – order today!

1. Overview of the Law, Operating Terms and Procedure
2. First Steps and the Search for Claim-Supporting Evidence
3. Mental Impairment Claims
4. Effective Hearing Tactics – What Administrative Law Judges Want You to Know
5. Strategies for the Appeals Council and Federal District Court
6. Avoiding Ethical Pitfalls
7. Handling Changes in Benefits
8. Coordinating SSDI with Workers' Comp and Other Benefits and Income Sources
9. Attorneys' Fees – Sources and Methods of Recovery

Continuing Education Credits:   

* denotes specialty credits

OVERVIEW OF THE LAW, OPERATING TERMS AND PROCEDURE
8:30 - 9:15, Ruth K. Irvin

• Key Term Definitions and Abbreviations
• Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) vs. Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
• Eligibility Rules: Medical vs. Nonmedical Requirements
• How Disability is Measured – The Grids and Residual Functional Capacity
• Governing Law (POMS, HALLEX, SSRs, ARs, Case Law, CFR and SS Act)
• SSDI Claim Procedural Steps (Initial Claim, Local SSA Office Review, Determination, Reconsideration, Appeal, ODAR ALJ Hearing, Appeals Counsel, Civil Action in U.S. District Court)

FIRST STEPS AND THE SEARCH FOR CLAIM-SUPPORTING EVIDENCE
9:15 - 10:15, Ruth K. Irvin

• Client Intake and Questionnaire – Looking for Conflicting Information in the Client's File
• Claim Evaluation - Red Flags to Look out for
• The Five (or Three) Steps of the Sequential Evaluation
• Reopening a Prior Application – How Far Back Can You Go?
• SSA/ODAR Communications (Including Specific Forms to Complete and SSA Response to Case Backlog)
• Difference in Evaluating Physical vs. Mental Claims
• Obtaining Case Supporting Documentation
• Determining the Onset of Disability (Including Date Last Insured)
• Proving Pain
• Medical History and Treating Doctors' Opinions
• Employment History
• Functional Exertional and Non-Exertional Limitations
• Daily Activity Diaries
• Special Considerations in Child Disability Claims

MENTAL IMPAIRMENT CLAIMS
10:30 - 11:15, Paul E. Radosevich

• Should You Survey Listing 12.00 or Focus on One Particular Listing?
• Personality Disorders – Are They Real, How Can You Prove Your Case?
• Can Your Client Meet Listing 12.08?
• Faking or Response Distortion in Personality Assessment
• Intelligence Quotient (IQ) – Can You Prove the Client's Listing IQ?
• Social Security Listing of Impairment: 12.05
• What Limitations Does a Low IQ Cause?
• Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF)
• Changes in the Diagnostic and Statistics Manual (DSM-5)

EFFECTIVE HEARING TACTICS - WHAT ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGES WANT YOU TO KNOW
11:15 - 11:45, Gregory W. Heron

• Preparation
• Pre-Hearing Briefs and Other Submissions
• Amended Onset Dates and Wages Recorded after Onset Date
• Effective Exhibits
• Direct Examination of the Claimant
• Cross-Examining Medical and Vocational Experts

STRATEGIES FOR THE APPEALS COUNCIL AND FEDERAL DISTRICT COURT
11:45 - 12:15, Teresa Abbott

• Procedure
• Effective Arguments
• Brief Writing Tactics
• Timing Considerations

AVOIDING ETHICAL PITFALLS
1:15 - 2:15, Gordon W. Williams

• Judicial Misconduct
• Representative Misconduct
• Client Misconduct
• Guarding Confidentiality
• Addressing Negative Evidence

HANDLING CHANGES IN BENEFITS
2:15 - 3:00, Teresa Abbott

• Death of the Claimant during Litigation
• Representative Payees
• Benefits Modification Based on Rate of Recovery
• Return to Work Considerations

COORDINATION OF SSDI WITH WORKERS' COMP AND OTHER BENEFITS AND INCOME SOURCES
3:15 - 4:00, Teresa Abbott

• With Workers' Compensation
• Disability Definition in Workers' Comp vs. SSDI
• What the Offset Applied to and How Much is Calculated
• “Average Current Earnings” – Exclusions from Offset Formula
• Changes in the Amount of Workers' Compensation
• Different Impairments can Cause the Same Disability
• “Periodic” Benefits
• Overpayments of SSDIB
• Sharing of Evidence
• With a Personal Injury Settlement
• With Trust Distributions and Other Sources of Income
• The Effect of SSD/SSI Receipt on Medicaid Eligibility
• Why File for SSDI and Social Security Retirement at the Same Time
• Is the Claimant Applying for Unemployment Benefits too?
• Veteran's Service-Connected Disability, Non-Service Disability and/or SSDI and SSI

ATTORNEYS' FEES – SOURCES AND METHODS OF RECOVERY
4:00 - 4:40, Roseann L. Murray

• From Federal Government
• From the Back Due Benefits
• Fee Petition
• Fee Agreement – When Can You Get More than the Fee Cap?
• In a Partially Favorable Ruling Case
• Pursuing Unpaid Fees
• Fees in Federal Court
• Seeking Fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA)

TERESA ABBOTT is a sole practitioner in Denver, Colorado, where her practice is devoted to Social Security law. She was an assistant regional counsel with the Social Security Administration's Office of the General Counsel for more than a decade prior to opening her private practice in 2007. During that time, Ms. Abbott also served as a special assistant U.S. attorney litigating Social Security cases in several district courts and courts of appeals. Before joining OGC, she also had worked in several components of the Social Security Administration, including a field office, a disability programs branch, and in a regional office of the Office of Disability Adjudication and Review. Ms. Abbott is a member of the Colorado Bar Association. She earned her B.A. degree from Metropolitan State College in Denver, Colorado; and her J.D. degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law.

GREGORY W. HERON has significant experience as an attorney representing injured individuals and their families in a range of cases. Catastrophic injuries can impact the ability of individuals to continue to work in support of themselves and their families. Years of assisting hundreds of clients with permanent impairments have resulted in his additional focus on representing individuals with Social Security disability hearings and appeals. Mr. Heron joined Fogel Keating Wagner Polidori & Free, PC in 1984. He is a member of the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association, the Denver Bar Association and the American Association for Justice. Mr. Heron earned his B.A. degree from the University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado; and his J.D. degree from the University of Denver College of Law, Denver, Colorado.

RUTH K. IRVIN is a partner with Irvin and Irvin law offices in Boulder, Colorado, where she practices primarily in the area of Social Security disability. She is a member of the Boulder and Colorado bar associations, the National Organization of Social Security Claimants' Representatives and the Workers' Compensation Education Association. Ms. Irvin earned her B.A. degree, magna cum laude, from the University of South Dakota; and her M.A. and J.D. degrees from the University of Denver.

ROSEANN L. MURRAY earned her J.D. degree and LL.M. degree in taxation from the University of Denver College of Law. She practices primarily in the areas of estate planning, estate administration, elder law and Social Security disability. Ms. Murray is a board member of Compassion & Choices, Denver Chapter; and a previous board member of the Women's Estate Planning Council and Table Mountain Animal Center. She lectures for the National Business Institute in the areas of Social Security disability, probate and Medicaid/Medicare.

PAUL E. RADOSEVICH is an attorney with Radosevich & Dixon in Denver, where he practices exclusively in the Social Security field in the state and region. He obtained his J.D. degree from Santa Clara University. Mr. Radosevich's past experience includes the fields of worker's compensation, personal injury and long term disability claims. He is a sustaining member of NOSSCR.

GORDON W. WILLIAMS law office is located in Lakewood, Colorado, where he has practiced law for over 33 years. The emphasis of his practice is in the representation of people who have been denied Social Security disability benefits by the Social Security Administration and/or who have been denied short or long term disability benefits (STD and LTD benefits) under employer sponsored disability plans usually administered by insurance companies. Mr. Williams also handles PERA, federal and other government disability claims. He earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Colorado and his J.D. degree from the University of Denver. Mr. Williams is a sustaining member of the National Organization of Social Security Representatives and a member of the Colorado Bar Association. He is past chairman of the Colorado Bar Association's Mental Health Law Committee (now the Disability Law Section) and a former chairperson of the Governor's Mental Health Advisory Board for Service Standards and Regulations. Mr. Williams is currently a member of, and active in, several sections of the Colorado Bar Association. He has been a presenter for various Social Security lectures including the Tenth Circuit Social Security Law mid-winter annual meeting.

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