Social Security Disability

Phone: 650.723.2465
Fax: 650.725.0253

Community Law Clinic students have helped hundreds of adults and children obtain much needed disability benefits from the Social Security Administration (SSI and SSDI). Students represent clients at Federal Administrative Law Judge hearings and in Federal District Court, filing briefs, cross-examining witnesses, putting on expert testimony, drafting declarations, gathering evidence and presenting oral arguments before the judges.

Our clients are adults and children in our local community who are unable to work on a full time basis due to mental and/or physical disabilities. Without income, our clients rely on family for food and shelter, and those without a safety net become homeless or stay in local shelters and transitional housing. The Social Security Administration’s disability claims process is a very difficult one, and most applicants are unsuccessful. By preparing the cases and putting on a strong case at hearing, CLC students are able to secure life-changing benefits for a majority of our clients.

Most of our Social Security Disability cases come to the clinic through the Law School’s Social Security Disability Pro Bono Project, where law students help disabled individuals file initial claims for Social Security Disability.

Social Security Disability Hearings

CLC Students at Social Security Hearing — Tristan Alston (JD ‘26) and Imani Nokuri (JD ’25) had a tremendous victory at a federal ALJ hearing in San Jose when they helped a 54-year-old longtime local resident and well-respected community member and father gain approval for Social Security disability benefits. The client had been trying to get the benefits for three years on his own after he had become unable to work due to an atypical neurological disorder. Tristan and Imani represented the client in his Social Security hearing before an administrative law judge. The judge complimented the students’ “very well-written” brief. The students presented argument, answered the judge’s questions about the record, put on testimony of their client, and cross-examined an expert witness. The judge issued a written decision granting ongoing disability benefits and two years of retroactive payments. The client was thrilled at the victory. He will finally receive the support he needs to pay for his share of the family’s food and shelter and take care of his medical needs.

CLC Students at Social Security Hearings — Carra Rentie (BA ‘17, JD ‘20) and Michelle Erickson (JD ‘20) represented a woman at a federal ALJ hearing in Oakland, who had allegedly been overpaid in her social security disability payments by almost $20,000. For this Chinese immigrant who had tried to do everything right and had tried on her own for two years to explain it to the government, the worst part of the situation was not the financial burden, but the allegation that she had done something wrong despite her repeated efforts to explain her situation. After a month of building trust and many very long meetings, the students and client went into their administrative hearing together and won a fully favorable decision from the bench based on the brief and declarations they filed and the live testimony they presented. To make it even better, the judge ended by telling the clients: “You didn’t do anything wrong!” After two years of feeling silenced, he finally heard them!

Social Security Hearings 1 — Live ALJ hearings require a lot of preparation and mooting. Students practice their arguments and direct and cross examinations with other students, faculty, and sometimes visiting CLC alumni, who play judge and ask hard questions. When hearing day arrives, the students are prepared for every scenario from an easy favorable bench decision to a long, drawn out argument. Here, CLC advanced students help full time students refine their argument by working through possible questions from the bench.

SSDP Pro Bono Project

CLC works closely with the Law School’s Social Security Disability Pro Bono Project (“SSDP”) to provide full service vertical representation for the low-income disabled of the Peninsula. Through SSDP Stanford students assist clients filing initial applications for disability benefits and filing administrative appeals. If SSDP clients need to appeal their cases to the hearing level, CLC provides full service representation.

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