July 1, 2007:  Our record for the first six months of 2007 in cases at the Administrative Law Judge level and below is 55 wins and 2 losses.  Those two cases are on appeal.

March 21, 2007:  We have been noticing a large increase in processing time at Social Security over the last couple years.  In an attempt to help speed up the process, we are now taking cases for representation at the initial application stage.

Social Security has a plan to eliminate the reconsideration stage and substitute a review by a federal official.  They are also proposing to eliminate the Appeals Council.  The first item may never happen.  It is being tested in one region on the east coast with little success.  If it is implemented, it will probably slow down the process even more.  The second item is likely to happen and it will make it even more important to have an experienced attorney who does federal court appeals represent you before the administrative law judge.