Stats on Attorney Fees in SSD cases

The Social Security website has the statistics on what has been paid out to attorneys as a fee in cases. The stats are posted here. From this it seems fairly straightforward to calculate an average attorney fee in a typical case. It runs around $3500 to $3600. That also means the average back benefits a typical claimant has coming is about $14000. The agency usually just pays the attorney and then the claimant these back amounts. Of course it depends on your earnings record. Some claimants receive $20000 or more and some may not be entitled to any back due amounts but the stats give us the average. Sometimes the attorney succeeds for you but receives little but that is a risk he takes on. By the way no attorney should be charging you any ongoing amount from your current checks. Is an attorney worth it? An experienced attorney gives you the best chance of obtaining benefits in that he is aware of the local practices and what usually works best. An attorney is not a guarantee. Locally it depends on many factors but the attorney usually lines up the evidence that will give you the best chance.