Law Offices of Lawrence D. Rohlfing, Inc. CPC

Focus and practice areas

Social Security and disability benefits make up the whole of this firm's work. The practice covers Social Security Disability Insurance, known as SSDI, and Supplemental Security Income, known as SSI. It also handles children's disability and survivor benefits, widow and widower benefits, and disabled worker benefits. Each of these runs through the Social Security Administration, and each carries its own rules for who qualifies.

The benefits the firm handles

SSDI and SSI answer different questions. SSDI is tied to a person's work history and the Social Security taxes they have paid over the years. SSI is based on financial need, for people with limited income and resources. A claimant can sometimes qualify for both, and the medical standard for disability is similar across the two programs. A firm that handles both, as this one does, can look at a person's situation and file under the program that fits.

The firm also names benefits that reach a claimant's family. Children's disability benefits can support a child with a qualifying condition. Survivor benefits and widow or widower benefits go to family members after a wage earner's death, under rules tied to the earner's record. Disabled worker benefits fall under the SSDI framework for people who can no longer work. Naming these separately shows that the firm takes matters across several Social Security programs.

How a disability claim usually moves

The firm represents claimants at every stage, and a claim tends to follow a set path. A person files an application with the Social Security Administration, and a first application is often denied. The next step is a request for reconsideration, where a different reviewer examines the file. In my opinion, a practice that carries a case through all of these stages gives a claimant one team for the long arc of a claim, which can run for months or years.

The hearing stage often decides a case. At that hearing, the administrative law judge can hear from the claimant and, in many cases, from a vocational expert who testifies about jobs a person might still do. A representative uses the hearing to present medical evidence and to question the assumptions behind that testimony. Firms that report a high hearing volume, as this one does, spend much of the week in that setting.

Cases that continue past the hearing go to the Appeals Council, and then to federal court. This firm appears at each of those forums, including the U.S. District Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals. Because the path can be long, the paperwork carries weight. Medical records, work history, and statements from treating doctors form the backbone of a claim, and each forum applies its own standard to that evidence.

How the team is built

Lawrence D. Rohlfing established the firm in 1985 and has represented people seeking disability benefits since then. The attorneys page names ten lawyers: Lawrence D. Rohlfing, Denise Bourgeois Haley, Young Cho, Brian C. Shapiro, Steven G. Rosales, Monica Perales, Matthew F. Holmberg, Marc V. Kalagian, Laura Krank, and Russell J. Rohlfing. The firm describes a staff of 17 people and puts the average experience of its lawyers at 15 years.

The site gives a full profile for the founding attorney and lists the other lawyers by name. As a reviewer, I read a roster this size as a sign that claims are spread across several attorneys, which matters for a practice that reports a high yearly volume. It also means a client's file can move forward when one lawyer is in a hearing and another is available.

What the record shows

The firm reports that it handles over a thousand disability claims each year. It also reports about a thousand hearings and hundreds of federal court cases annually. Those numbers describe a practice built for steady work in front of the Social Security Administration and the courts that review its decisions.

Lawrence D. Rohlfing has argued before the U.S. Supreme Court. He was counsel of record in more than 20 published and more than 100 unpublished decisions of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Published decisions set rules that later cases follow, so a record at that level points to sustained work in the appellate courts. That record is relevant to any claimant whose case later reaches a federal appeal.

Where the firm works and who it serves

The firm is based in Santa Fe Springs, California, and serves clients throughout California and Nevada. Its work reaches the Los Angeles and San Diego metro areas. The site notes a new San Diego office planned to open in the near future, which would give the firm a second base in the southern part of the state.

People who look for help with a Social Security matter often want a firm that knows the local hearing offices and the federal courts that hear appeals in their area. This firm covers two states and appears in the Ninth Circuit, which decides federal appeals across the western United States. In my opinion, that regional reach fits the benefits work the firm describes. The site lists the Santa Fe Springs office as its main location, with the San Diego office planned to follow.