Picked a big firm over a solo lawyer for my CA disability appeal, then switched at the hearing

Back in February I had to choose between this huge firm in LA that does tons of SSDI cases and a solo practitioner in Fresno who came recommended by my cousin. The big firm had slick ads and a website with all these charts, so I went with them first. They assigned me to a paralegal who was nice but I never talked to the actual lawyer once. For the initial denial they submitted the same old medical notes I gave them, no new info. Then I heard my hearing date got pushed back twice, and I got worried. So at the last minute I switched to the solo lawyer, and she actually called me on a Sunday to go over my functional report. She found a gap in my treatment records from 2023 and got my pain specialist to write a proper residual capacity statement. The hearing happened last Tuesday, and the judge approved me for LTD back benefits. The choice basically came down to who would actually fight for me, and the solo lawyer did in 6 weeks what the big firm couldn't do in 5 months. Has anyone else had better luck with a smaller practice for these appeals?

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mary_martin229d ago

Fight for you" or just answer the phone, right? Glad it worked out.