My background

I graduated from LSU Law School in 1985. From 1988 to 1993, I worked as an Attorney/Advisor for the Alexandria and New Orleans Offices of Hearings and Appeals (now called the Offices of Disability Adjudication and Review), writing opinions for the Administrative Law Judges. The five years I spent working as an attorney for the Social Security Administration gave me extensive insight into how the judges evaluate and decide these claims. I now use that insight to help my clients appeal a denial of benefits.

My experience

I started my own law practice in 1993, handling Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) disability claims exclusively. In 17 years of private practice, I have handled over 1,000 claims. Having handled such a large number of cases, I am very familiar with all the major physical and mental medical conditions (and some very rare ones too), and how those conditions are evaluated under the Social Security Listing of Impairments. I am able to quickly read medical records for the most important details that should be brought to the judge’s attention. I am experienced in questioning Vocational Experts to elicit testimony necessary for the judge to determine that a claimant is unable to engage in any work activity. I am knowledgeable about the appeals process after a denial at the administrative hearing level, and know which appeals arguments are most likely to be persuasive.

My personal interest in helping you and your loved ones

In most cases, the Social Security disability appeals process is a long and grueling one. As I see it, my job is to ease your burden and to move the process along as smoothly and efficiently as possible. I take a personal interest in all my clients. If you are unable to meet with me for an initial consultation, I will travel to meet you. If you need assistance beyond your Social Security disability claim, I can help you access free medication, low-income housing programs and other government assistance programs such as LACHIP (Louisiana Children’s Health Insurance Program) and LIHEAP (Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program). I handle both adult and child disability claims.

If you live in central or northern Louisiana, southern Arkansas, or western Mississippi, and you or someone you love has been denied Social Security disability benefits, I can help.

If your application for Louisiana Social Security disability benefits has been denied, and you would like me to review your claim, please take a moment to complete the Free Claim Evaluation form on the right side of this page. You may also, if you prefer, contact me directly by phone.

Chris FosterLouisiana Social Security disability lawyer

112 West Highland Ave.West

Monroe, Louisiana

888-946-7624

It is important that you understand some basic points about how the Administrative Law Judge goes about determining whether someone is disabled. This process is complicated and technical, and it doesn’t necessarily involve common sense. For example, most people think that if they cannot get a job because of their medical problems, this must prove that they are disabled. But inability to get a job proves nothing.

A disability determination is a “hypothetical” determination. That is, it has very little to do with the real world. It has nothing to do with the fact that employers won’t hire you because of your medical problems. The Social Security Administration looks only at whether you are capable of doing jobs, not whether you’d be hired. Thus, you may have to prove that you are unable to do jobs that you would never be hired for in a million years.

In some cases, the medical findings about your condition alone will cause the judge to find you disabled. However, in the majority of cases your attorney will have to prove two things: First, that your medical impairments prevent you from performing any job you’ve done in the past 15 years; and second, that there aren’t many other jobs you are capable of doing considering your age, education and work experience.

Think about all the jobs you’ve had in the past 15 years, and pick out the easiest one. You have to prove that you cannot do that easiest job—you have to prove this even if you’re dead certain you’d never be hired for that job again, and even if the company where you worked no longer exists or if the job is not available for some other reason.

Proving the second thing—that considering your age, education and work experience you’re unable to do many other jobs—is even more complicated and opposed to common sense. In many cases you have to prove that you’re incapable of doing jobs that you know you’d never actually be hired for.

A lot of people have heard the language “totally and permanently disabled.” This phrase, which comes from workers’ compensation cases, does not apply in Social Security disability and SSI disability cases. For Social Security, you don’t have to be “permanently” disabled; you only have to be disabled for 12 months. Although you have to be totally disabled in the sense that you are unable to perform jobs existing in significant numbers in the economy, this doesn’t mean that you have to be unable to do anything. In fact, very few people who go in front of an Administrative Law Judge are unable to do anything at all.