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Students who enroll in the Administrative/Disability Clinic take on cases involving the administrative appeals of disabled clients who have been denied Social Security benefits. In preparing these cases for hearing, students interview and counsel clients, compile the evidentiary record, collaborate with medical providers, and prepare a hearing brief. Appeal hearings are held at Social Security's Office of Disability Adjudication and Review (ODAR) before Administrative Law Judges (ALJs). At the hearing, the student gives an opening statement, conducts direct examination of the client and cross-examines other witnesses such as vocational experts and medical experts. Under the supervision of experienced attorneys, law students in the Administrative/Disability Clinic have a success rate of over 95% in these ALJ hearings. In rare cases that are not approved by the ALJ, students write appellate briefs to Federal District Court and present oral argument before a federal judge.
Students wishing to enroll in this clinic must enroll in the Health, Disability and Estate Planning: Law and Policy Clinical Workshop A (fall) or B (spring). The workshop brings together students who are working in direct services clinics (Disability Law and Estate and Permanency Planning Law) and the health law and policy clinic to explore the important links between legislative and regulatory policy making and implementation, on one hand, and the complex on-the-ground consequences of those policies, on the other.
For more information on the Administrative/Disability Clinic, contact Julie McCormack, Clinical Instructor, at jmccorma@law.harvard.edu or (617) 390-2522.
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