I recently posted a case study describing a case I tried involving a woman with a variety of well documented and severe medical problems. This case was initially tried by another lawyer before a judge who denied it despite a very strong medical record that pointed to a finding of disability.
After the hearing claim denial, the client filed an appeal and the Appeals Council reversed the ALJ’s decision and sent the case back for a second hearing with specific instructions for the ALJ to consider all of the claimant’s limitations. Fortunately, the hearing office assigned to this claim has changed and a different judge was assigned this case. As I note in the case study, I got the sense that the new judge quickly saw that this case should be approved and she issued a bench decision granting benefits.