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Gordon Gates

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Gordon Gates specializes in Social Security disability law, and he handles claims at every level of the Social Security disability claim process. He assists clients with initial applications for disability benefits, with appeals of denied claims, and with hearings by an administrative law judge.

Gordon has successfully appealed unfavorable administrative law judge decisions the Social Security Appeals Council and to U.S. District Court (District of Maine) to have those claims remanded for new hearings.

Gordon attended Maine Maritime Academy and Tulane University Law School. At Tulane, he served as Senior Articles Editor of the Tulane Law Review and graduated magna cum laude. He was admitted to practice law in Maine in 1991. Since 2005, he has concentrated his law practice on Social Security disability and SSI cases.

Gordon is the publisher of Social Security Disability Lawyer, a nationally-read legal blog. He presented at the Fall 2010 conference of National Organization of Social Security Claimants' Representatives (NOSSCR) on the topic of Writing Hearing Briefs for the ALJ.

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Since December of 2011, the SSA has had a policy of not disclosing the identity of the particular ALJ assigned to conduct a hearing and decide the case. This policy is unfortunate. It is helpful to know who the judge is for a hearing, rather than preparing your case for an unknown ALJ.

For my practice, however, I really do not need to know who the ALJ is ahead of time. I know my local judges, and can adjust accordingly at the hearing.

Nevertheless, it became something of a challenge to prognosticate the assigned ALJ, given the information provided in the hearing notice. So I went to work on the problem.

I have developed an algorithm that predicts the particular ALJ assigned to a hearing from the information contained in the hearing notice. It has proven to be 94% accurate predicting the judges assigned in the Portland hearing office. 

The variables are:

  1. the day of the week of the hearing, 
  2. time of the hearing, 
  3. the hearing room, and 
  4. whether or not a vocational expert (VE) has been assigned.
  5. whether or not a medical expert (ME) has been assigned

All this information is set forth in the notice of hearing.  Continue Reading Predicting the assigned ALJ

The hearing monitor at a Social Security disability hearing is akin to a court reporter in court. The hearing monitor is present at the hearing, sitting in front of a computer, and manages the digital recording of each Social Security disability hearing. Along with an administrative law judge, hearing monitors are a constant presence in the hearing room.

For as long as I can remember, hearing monitors have been contract employees, coming and going from the hearing office as needed. However, that has changed in the Portland, Maine ODAR, and according to reports, in many hearing offices around the country.

The new hearing monitors are the senior case technicians and case technicians from the hearing office staff. To save money, rather than contract out the hearing monitor assignments, the SSA is using its existing staff to perform the task. Continue Reading Hearing Monitors at the Portland Maine Hearing Office

Many Social Security disability claims are not approved until a hearing is held before an administrative law judge (ALJ).

The preparation in advance of the hearing represents most of the work done by a Social Security disability lawyer, and that preparation will usually determine the outcome of the claim.

Preparation for an ALJ hearing is…

Those representing clients before the Social Security Administration must file Reconsideration Requests and Hearing Requests for medically denied Title II and Title XVI disability claims online. The requirement went into effect Friday, March 16, 2012.

The new mandate applies to representatives who request and are eligible for direct fee payment, which is pretty much everybody. …

The Social Security Administration has released its "waterfall" chart for Fiscal Year 2011, which ended in September, 2011. The chart has been published in the February 2012 Social Security Forum, a newsletter for NOSSCR members.

As predicted, allowances at the ALJ level are down fairly dramatically, with 58% of claims being allowed. In the…

Social Security’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) recently completed an audit to determine “what factors may account for any variance in decisional allowance rates and productivity” among administrative law judges (ALJs).

The report is usually referenced  as the report on the “outlier ALJs,” and it is really worth a read. Two things stood out…