Choosing a Social Security Attorney – So much advertising, so little information!
There are a lot of lawyer advertisements. You see them on television, you hear them on the radio and they are all over the Internet. “Call this firm for your accident, call this firm for your bankruptcy, complete this online form for your Social Security Disability benefits.”
BEWARE: many of the firms doing the most advertising are simply the firms with the greatest marketing budget, not the firms that are right for YOUR case. Also, they are rarely in your community and will almost never meet with you to discuss the issues of your case.
In the Social Security Disability practice many national and large regional law firms spend hundreds of thousands of dollars a year just in marketing and advertising. Does this mean that these are the best lawyers to provide the legal services you need? Often the answer to that question is “No!”
At Jeffrey A. Rabin & Associates, Ltd. you will speak with trained law firm employees who are legally and ethically responsible to you under the guidelines of our State Bar Association and the Social Security Administration. You will have direct contact with staff trained by our attorneys, and you will have at least two attorneys knowledgeable and directly responsible for your case – one of those being Jeff Rabin. We work in Northern Illinois, we know our communities, we know local resources, we know how Chicagoans think, and we care about you as a client – not just as a number on a computer screen.
In fact, many advertisers on the Internet are not even law firms — they are either non-attorney advocacy firms, or simple Internet marketing companies who sell your information to law firms across the country! These Internet marketers are virtually unregulated. The disclaimers identifying them are often hard to find, buried in small print in the website. Your information ends up being sold to the law or advocacy firm who is pays the most to the marketing company for each “lead.” A “Lead” to the marketing company is just another name, phone and email address to be sold – in the real world it is a human who is disabled and suffering. Is that how you really want to get a representative?
When you complete a form on an Internet website which is not clearly identified as a local law firm site, you may be called from an independent contractor hired by a large call center and who is not a law firm employee. That person’s salary may be dependent upon churning as many phone calls and emails as possible in a day, as opposed to listening and providing service to you. You may be calling with someone thousands of miles from your home – and what does that person really know about medical and legal help in your town?
When you reply to an Internet advertisement, or to a television commercial, ask tough questions. Where is this law firm? Who will actually be going to the Administrative Law Judge hearing with you? Will that person by your side at the ALJ hearing, who you are counting on to argue with a Judge and cross-examine the Social Security doctor, be an attorney? Will that person by your side even be an employee of the law firm or will the law firm hire low cost independent lawyers to do your hearing? Will that person have experience? There are really qualified non-attorney advocates, and some good national law practices – but consumers need to ask the right questions so that they truly understand who they are hiring for what is likely the most important legal matter in their life.
In the Chicago region Jeffrey A. Rabin & Associates, Ltd. has built a reputation based upon effective, aggressive and compassionate representation of people needing Social Security benefits. That is our mission and that guides our daily work. Our offices are in your community, our staff is from your community – with more than 60 years of combined legal services the attorneys of Jeffrey A. Rabin & Associates have worked with Social Security staff, physicians, hospitals, clinics and therapists in your community.
There are a lot of lawyer advertisements. Be an informed consumer. Get referrals from friends, neighbors, physicians and others that you trust. Ask a lot of questions if you choose to respond to an advertisement. Find a law firm with skilled and experienced attorneys in your community who focus in this area of the law. The Mission of the lawyers and staff at Jeffrey A. Rabin & Associates, Ltd. is to provide the representation you need to get the help you deserve – Do Not Fight Alone.
April 2014
Jeff Rabin
