From Law 360 (emphasis added):
... A U.S. Supreme Court ruling [in Culbertson v. Berryhill] earlier this year created a uniform method for allocating fees across judicial jurisdictions, ensuring attorneys will have access to higher fees regardless of where they practice. Practitioners are mixed on the impact of the ruling but hope it will attract more attorneys to the field of Social Security disability law so more people like Gammon can get help.
They also hope it will secure them enough money to sustain their practices' financial health, which can be precarious due to the nature of accepting jobs without a guaranteed fee.
Gammon's attorney, Rick Culbertson of Orlando, Florida, is the one who brought the fee dispute to the Supreme Court , and he said that's what he hoped for.
"Those of us trying to make a living doing this, it'll make it more likely we'll be able to get by. We still won't get rich, but we'll be able to get by helping people who need us," he said. ...
"Lawyers who want to maximize their earning capacity don't do Social Security law. They would be crazy to do Social Security law," said Charles Martin of the Law Offices of Martin & Jones, an Atlanta disability attorney who has been practicing in the field for decades. ...
"I'm worried it will be bad publicity for Social Security attorneys. It'll make it seem like [they] are greedy," said Barbara Silverstone, executive director of the National Organization of Social Security Claimants' Representatives. ...
I read the comment from NOSSCR yesterday and found it to be disconcerting and frankly am quite surprised the leader of the NOSSCR organization would make such an offhand remark. Completely sheds the wrong professional light and tone on practitioners in this specialized area.
ReplyDeleteIt was an odd comment for NOSSCR to make. But I think NOSSCR by what it hears from its members is just shell-shocked because any new or proposed changes to the SSD program under this republican administration has been negative to claimants and representatives. I think they have a "just don't rock the boat and hang on until we hopefully get a democratic president or congress" attitude. I can understand that reasoning: I just want the status quo to continue. I can't even fathom wishing for any positive changes to arrive during this current political climate.
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