The Government takes the position that a typical Federal Court case takes approximately 30-40 hours, on average, to write the brief and reply, and litigate until the conclusion. However, our experience is that it often takes much longer to properly appeal a Social Security Disability case to Federal Court. It is not uncommon for us to invest as much as 50-70 hours into a single case. The most time we invested into a single case at the District Court level was 120 hours. If you believe your client has a strong federal appeal, but you simply do not have the time to commit to federal litigation, and manage the strict time deadlines that accompany such litigation, we would be happy to handle the case for you.

No. Upon the conclusion of the case we will send the file back to you to complete the remand proceedings. A referring attorney or non-attorney representative does not give up representation of their client. You continue to represent the client before the Social Security Administration. Once we win the remand, we will send the claim back to you, and you can complete the administrative proceedings. The client remains yours and the fees you earn at the administrative level (the 406A fees) are yours.

Your client does not pay any up-front attorney fees, and you keep your claim along with the 406A fees.

We only work for the Equal Access to Justice Act (“EAJA”) and any available 406B fees.

In addition, we pay referral fees to our referral partners in accordance with the rules of ethics.

The bottom line is this: There is no reisk to refer the case to us. There are only possible benefits. If we win the case, you keep the client. You keep the 406A fees. You do not have to invest 30-40+ hours of work into the federal appeal. There is only upside. We are here to provide you, and your client, additional support for the case.

I am sure you are already aware, but as a reminder, there is only 60-days from the date of the Appeals Council decision to file an Appeal with the Federal District Court (plus a 5-day grace period for mailing). This time goes by fast, especially when time is needed to review the case file, get the client’s intake packet back, and to perform necessary investigation.

If the time to appeal to federal court expires, your client may still be able to pursue a federal appeal. There are rules that allow a claimant to make a request for a good cause extension of time from the Appeals Council to file the Federal action. The request for the extension of time should be filed before the civil action is filed and should be filed with the Appeals Council (not the federal court).

As an attorney, or authorized representative, referring your potential federal cases can enhance your practice and generate more revenue for you. ALJ’s often deny good cases that should have been approved.

If we win a remand, you get to keep your client and the 406A fees (other firms do not operate this way, and some try to keep the entire case even upon remand, but we understand it is important for everyone to generate fees and for your clients to keep continuity of representation with you).

The national statistic is that 2/3 of all cases remanded from federal court eventually result in a favorable decision. This also means that you are leaving money on the table by not referring out all of your denied cases for federal review.

Yes! We handle federal appeals in all 50 states!