<\/p>\n
Although there can be experienced and non-experienced representatives in both realms of attorney and non-attorney representation the\u00a0problems is that non-attorney representation has a weak baseline standard and is virtually unregulated.\u00a0Attorneys as a\u00a0group have undergone the greatest, training, education\u00a0and testing \u00a0standards of higher education available.\u00a0The GAO in their 2007\u00a0 Report found the SSA standard for a non-attorney representative as the following:\u00a0<\/p>\n
“[SSA] currently allows nonattorneys who have represented as few as five disability claims before SSA over a 2-year period to qualify for fee withholding. Most judges we interviewed and more than half of the eligible nonattorneys considered this insufficient. And, according to an association of representatives, fee withholding is attracting more inexperienced nonattorneys to the field of disability representation….”<\/p>\n
As stated in prior blogs repeatedly, ask your representative the following questions:<\/p>\n
1. Will you be at my hearing and have you been to over 1,000 SSA hearings?<\/p>\n