If you are considering starting or expanding a social security disability practice, now is still a great time. There are many reasons why the need for legal representation for SSD is growing and could potentially be a very lucrative practice area your firm.
Over the last few decades several very important factors have caused an increase in the number of Social Security Disability applications:
1. That huge cohort of the US population–the Baby Boom generation–is getting older. As people age,they are more likely to sustain injuries or develop conditions that preclude them from gainful employment. Statistics show that people are roughly twice as likely to be disabled at age 50 as they are at age 40, and twice as likely to be disabled at age 60 as at age 50. So for the Baby Boomers—those born between 1946 and 1964 — the number of disability cases has risen substantially.
2. Social Security\’s full retirement age has recently gone up from 65 to 66. At first glance this may not seem like a big deal but there are over 400,000 people between the ages of 65 and 66—over 5% of all disability beneficiaries— that are currently receiving disability benefits (with new people entering this situation every year). This one policy change has caused a significant need for those in this age range to receive financial help prior to receiving regular Social Security retirement benefits at age 66.
3. Women are now qualifying for disability benefits more frequently. Workers with disabilities will only qualify for disability benefits if they have worked for at least 25% of their adult life and for at least five of the last ten years. Not that long ago, many fewer women were in the workplace that could meet those tests. As recently as 1990, male disabled workers outnumbered female by 2 to 1. Currently, the ratio is almost even (1.1 male to 1 female). This has caused a huge increase in the number of women applying and qualifying for SSD benefits.
What these statistics mean for the legal profession is that the need is greater than ever for quality Social Security Disability representation. Managing SSD cases can provide your practice with significant long term revenue either as a focus for your practice or a hedge to balance out your other more financially volatile practice areas such as mass tort or personal injury. You would be surprised at how many Social Security attorneys across the country gross millions of dollars per year. Although it is a very niche market, Social Security law does not attract all that much attention, and most attorneys cannot believe its profit potential. Those who have already discovered successfully managing SSD cases tend to keep it quiet for obvious reasons.
The key to long term success in the SSD space is adequate access to cost-effective, high quality SSD lead sources that will allow you to scale your case file count. Be sure to pay close attention to your cost per retained case (CPR) which should fall somewhere between $275 and $350. JurisLead generates high quality SSD leads from a variety of sources including PPC, organic and affiliate networks to ensure cost-effective CPR rates. Also crucial to success is ensuring that you have the necessary staff to follow up with each lead, sometime multiple times. This can be done efficiently and cost-effectively with the right type of non-attorney help. Too many times, this very important aspect of handling SSD cases is not given enough focus and resources to maximize the investment in SSD leads. It will pay for itself many times over.
As important as SSD lead generation is, building and maintaining a robust web presence is crucial. The internet is now a standard appliance in almost every home in the U.S. and all socioeconomic groups use it to access a wide variety of services including legal help. This is true for rich or poor, young or old. Make sure your “law office in the cloud” represents your firm in a positive light that resonates with your potential clients
If you are considering making Social Security Disability a focus for your firm, JurisLead provides a wealth of information, quality SSD leads and web development to set your practice up for long term success.
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