Long term disability and ERISA (the Employee Retirement Income Security Act) lawyers are not a dime a dozen. In fact, this area of law has become extremely specialized – so much so that finding an experienced attorney whose practice focuses in this area is often a difficult task. Luckily, some do exist…

California Attorney Ron Dean

We asked Ron Dean, a California attorney who has been engaged in employee benefits litigation primarily on behalf of participants for over 30 years, whether an attorney’s experience really matters when it comes to long term disability claims. According to Dean, a medical analogy is appropriate to answer that question. He explained:

If you’re having a heart attack, you don’t go to a chiropractor. You go to a cardiologist. There are so many areas, sub-areas and sub-sub-sub-areas of the law now, and as the law becomes more and more complicated, the subtleties of practicing in any area are enormous. For instance, I would never dare to practice real estate law, probate law or personal injury law, even though I know a lot about disabilities. The odds of making even a simple mistake and the consequences of losing the case are just so enormous that it doesn’t make sense to try and do it.

You don’t want an amateur going up against a professional

Dean says that he has lawyers calling him all the time who would like to get into the ERISA arena to handle benefit cases. In fact, he says he encourages it by telling them, “I’m here by phone; call me anytime. Here’s the outline. Here are the specifics of your case. Here’s what you should do.” However, before he can finish those words, most of them tell him that it’s far too complicated and that they don’t want to do this or learn this area of the law. He says, “You either do a lot of it or you don’t do any of it and, you know, it shouldn’t be that way. We’d all like Atticus Finch to represent us in all our legal dealings, but it just doesn’t happen – and you don’t want an amateur going up against a professional.”

If you’ve been denied valid long term care benefits, consult with an experienced ERISA attorney to discuss your situation and evaluate your options. Consultations are free, without obligation and strictly confidential.