A lot of people tell me they called a firm that they saw on late night TV commercials for help with their Social Security appeal.
On the day of the hearing, they met their lawyer for the very first time--about 30 minutes before the hearing began. And the guy who showed up was nothing like the guy they saw on TV.
Most of the time, TV commercials are made by actors, not by lawyers. These guys are hired because of the way they look and talk.
On the day of your hearing, the out of state firm you hired will not fly someone down to Huntsville to appear at your hearing. They will contract with a local, north Alabama representative to appear at your hearing. The only problem is, you have had absolutely no say so in who that representative will be.
Some questions you might want to ask if you call one of those 1-800 phone numbers from the late night TV commercials:
1) Who is going to show up at my hearing to represent me? Can you give me a name and phone number for that person?
2) How soon will I be able to meet that individual?
3) Does your firm have an office in Alabama? Do you have one near the community I live in?
Do you want more say-so in who your representative is going to be? Then you may want to hire a local advocate or attorney, one you can meet and talk to before you hire him or her. If you call one of those 800 numbers from late night TV, they will choose your representative and you get no say at all.
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