D-Day

[Spinolio]

Well my hearing comes tomorrow at last. I'm so nervous. I know I have a great case on the evidence alone. My lawyer has assured me of this. I'm just so worried I'll blow it myself. If I didn't have to talk to the judge at all I'd be great. 4 years...and it all comes down to this. I think I'm going to have a panic attack. My back went out again on Saturday so I get to hobble in there with a herniated disc too. And that's not even my primary ailment. Please Lord, don't let me choke! Any last minute words of advice/encouragement? Please?

[echoes long ago]

Good luck Spinolio! Take it one step at a time, think before you answer, keep it to the point, look the judge in the eye when you talk to him/her. Dont be afraid to ask to stand if your back hurts after a few minutes of sitting or to ask to sit again after you have been standing. Dress neatly but dont overdress. Take care, you will do fine.

[Spinolio]

thx echoes...

[Tau]

I hope we will be hearing good news by the end of the day!

[Spinolio]

Well...all that stress and I got a "I'll give you my decision soon" from the judge on the video feed from California (I'm in WI). My attorney asked what "soon" was and he said within 30 days, so I could have another month to wait and stew. I don't know how I did. I've never gone through anything like that before, but at face value it seemed like my attorney was virtually useless. Afterwards though, she did say that although at one point she had to tell me to basically shut up,(LOL -not her words, apparently I was giving him more info than I needed to on one subject) I did ok, and she doesn't see how he could possibly find against me with such a strong case, but she didn't know this guy and she'd been doing it for 25 years. She asked the vocational expert about 3 questions and me 2, I think. That was the sum total of her participation in the hearing. Good questions though, I'll give her that. I guess that's why she gets the big bucks. I hope short and to the point gets the job done. Allsup had a ton of documentation collected to support my case, but I never once spoke to my actual attorney until 2 days before my hearing, and then it was in her car, on her cell phone, with a lousy connection to boot. I finally actually met her, in fact, the ONLY person from Allsup I EVER MET in person, was 10 minutes before my hearing while she was finishing up with her previous client in the lobby. Then it was "Hi..I'm ***, come on in. That was it.

[Spinolio]

Ok, so I got a "no decision". What does that mean? Is that ok or is that the harbinger of doom? Is this standard operating procedure?

[mike1157]

Spinolio, I don't think anyone could really say what that means. Maybe it's that judges standard procedure or maybe he just needs to review some of the evidence.

The Judges have decision writers and they all follow a similar format. It's a fairly long summary of the judges decision that you'll get in the mail. It does seem unfair to wait all that time, then finally get your hearing and have to wait even longer for the decision.

Your lawyer should have a pretty good idea as to how your case went but even her opinion is no guarantee. I got approved on reconsideration so I never actually had a hearing, I just got a phone call from my attorney. I received the decision letter about 2 weeks later.