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. Coordination of 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, Athena M. Dickson

• 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 - 10:00, Athena M. Dickson

• 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
10:15 - 10:50, Fred R. Bunch

• 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
10:50 - 11:30, Fred R. Bunch

• 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
12:30 - 1:15, Jean C. Owen

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

AVOIDING ETHICAL PITFALLS
1:15 - 2:15, Jean C. Owen

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

HANDLING CHANGES IN BENEFITS
2:30 - 3:15, Roger M. Driskill

• 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 - 4:05, Fred R. Bunch

• 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
4:05 - 4:40, Jean C. Owen

• 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)

FRED R. BUNCH maintains his own law office in Clinton and Rolla, Missouri, where he has more than 25 years of experience handling Social Security disability cases, along with personal injury, criminal law, and real estate work. Mr. Bunch earned his B.S. degree from the University of Central Missouri and his J.D. degree from the Oklahoma City University School of Law, and was a campaign aid for Ike Skelton. After Mr. Skelton was elected, Mr. Bunch worked on his congressional staff until he formed his own private practice. He is a member of The Missouri Bar, and is admitted to practice before the Western District of the U.S. District Court and the Washington D.C. District Court of Appeals. Mr. Bunch is a member of Rotary International, the Missouri Association for Justice, and is a sustaining member of the National Organization of Social Security Claimants' Representatives (NOSSCR).

ATHENA M. DICKSON is an attorney with Siro Smith Dickson PC, where she practices in the areas of personal injury, employment discrimination, Family and Medical Leave Act claims, and Social Security disability. Ms. Dickson is licensed to practice in Missouri and Kansas state courts, as well as federal courts in the District of Kansas and the Western District of Missouri. She is the assistant secretary for the Association for Women Lawyers of Greater Kansas City and the treasurer of Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association-Young Lawyers Section. Ms. Dickson is a member of The Missouri Bar and the Kansas Bar Association, the Missouri Association of Trial Attorneys, and the National Employment Lawyers Association-Kansas City Chapter. She earned her B.S. degree from Missouri Western University and her J.D. degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

ROGER M. DRISKILL is a partner in the law firm of Burnett & Driskill. He focuses his practice in the exclusive representation of disability claimants and employment related disability claims. Mr. Driskill is admitted to practice before the U.S. District Court, Western District of Missouri; the U.S. District Court of Kansas; and all courts in the state of Missouri. He earned his B.A. degree from Southwest Baptist University and his J.D. degree from the University of Missouri. Mr. Driskill is a member of the American Bar Association, The Missouri Bar and the Clay County Bar Association. He is a sustaining member of the National Organization of Social Security Claimants' Representatives, American Association for Justice, Missouri Association for Justice, Nebraska Association for Justice, Kansas Association for Justice and the Iowa Association for Justice.

JEAN C. OWEN is the president of Social Security Disability Legal Advocates, Inc. in Mission, Kansas, where he has practiced in the area of Social Security disability law for the past 24 years. He earned both his B.A. and J.D. degrees from the University of Kansas. Mr. Owen is a former municipal judge in Olathe, Kansas and Spring Hill, Kansas. He is a member of the Johnson County, Kansas and Colorado bar associations. Mr. Owen is admitted to practice before the U.S. District courts of Kansas, Central District of Illinois, Western District of Michigan, and Western District of Missouri; and the U.S. Circuit courts of Appeals for the Fifth, Sixth, Eighth and Tenth circuits. During his career, he has argued more than 100 Social Security disability cases before the federal district courts and circuit courts of appeal.

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