jonathan, i have had fibro., chronic severe depression for years withrecent dx. of recent dx of some short term memory loss. i have a lawyer case has been somewhere in greensboro nc courts for two years now. all my problems have gotten worse and i do report in every time i see all all my md i never hear from the lawyer is this normal?
–Nancy

Jonathan Ginsberg responds:  Nancy, thanks for your email.  I hate to use the word "normal," because every lawyer handles his/her cases differently and every Social Security hearing office has different time issues with regard to scheduling hearings.

Here in Atlanta, a two year wait is typical.  I do think that you should be hearing something from your lawyer’s office every few months or so, even if you are hearing from a paralegal to update your medical treatment record.  You don’t say who your lawyer is, and I don’t necessarily need to know.  I can tell you, however, that if your attorney has nothing to report to you because the system is flawed (i.e. it takes years to get a hearing),  you can’t really expect him to call you every month to tell you that he has not heard anything.  Realize that your lawyer probably has 100 to 300 other cases – if he spent all of his time calling clients to say he had nothing to report, he would not get much done!

If you have not done so, call your lawyer’s paralegal to ask for an update.  Try to get the paralegal’s email as well as email is a much more time efficient means of communication.

It sounds as if you have a decent case – best of luck to you.