Did you represent yourself at your Social Security disability hearing? If you were denied, you may find it is difficult to find a lawyer to represent you.

Sadly, this is a common problem.  It is much harder to hire an attorney after you been denied.

Why?

It all comes down to TIME! You only have 65 day to appeal a hearing denial (5 days to receive the notice, and 60 days to get the appeal to Social Security).  Note:  the appeal must be received by the deadline. Postmarked by the deadline is not enough.

65 days is not a lot of time for a lawyer to do the following:

• Review the hearing decision.
• Review the exhibit file.
• Review your treating providers (doctors).
• Check for missing evidence.
• Obtain missing evidence.
• Review the medical evidence.
• Prepare the legal argument for the appeal.

Keep in mind that lawyers often work with a person applying for Social Security disability benefits for more than a year to get their case ready for hearing. To take on a post hearing case requires compressing all that work into a month or less.

This is another reason to hire an attorney early on your Social Security disability benefits case.  If you are working with an attorney before the hearing, they will probably help you if you need to appeal if you are denied at hearing.