DickinsonCLE

schnaufer.com

Computer-Assisted Legal Research: Resources
For The Social Security Practitioner

Social Security Practice Update: Dickinson School of Law

By Eric Schnaufer
November 15, 2003

I. Introduction

This workshop about computer-assisted legal research is published with hyperlinks at http://www.schnaufer.com/DickinsonCLE.htm. This workshop identifies the primary sources of electronic legal authority for the Social Security practitioner as:

• commercial CD-ROMs from Thomson (West) and Matthew Bender,

• commercial Internet databases from Lexis and West, and

• free authority available on the Internet from

• government sources, and

• non-government sources.

A Social Security practitioner should utilize several free Internet sites and subscribe to a commercial database such as Westlaw & West's Social Security Library CD-ROM. However, free and commercial electronic sources alone are insufficient. Recent developments should be followed in NOSSCR’s monthly Social Security Forum.

II. Court Information

http://www.uscourts.gov/

Information about federal courts is available on the Internet for free. The Internet is the first place to look for any court information.

A. Supreme Court

http://www.supremecourtus.gov/

B. Third Circuit

http://www.ca3.uscourts.gov/

C. District Courts Within the Third Circuit

Delaware http://www.ded.uscourts.gov/

New Jersey http://pacer.njd.uscourts.gov/

Pennsylvania

Eastern http://www.paed.uscourts.gov/

Middle http://www.pamd.uscourts.gov/

Western http://www.pawd.uscourts.gov/

III. Docketing Information and Electronic Filing

http://pacer.psc.uscourts.gov/

Litigators should use Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) to monitor civil actions. With PACER, it is simple to check regularly the status of all your civil actions. PACER can also be used to learn about your competitors and the dispositions of Social Security cases you did not handle. To do this, just search for "Commissioner" and "Barnhart" under the party.

A. Supreme Court

http://www.supremecourtus.gov/docket/docket.html

http://www.supremecourtus.gov/docket/02-763.htm (Pauline Thomas docket)

B. Third Circuit

https://pacer.ca3.uscourts.gov/main.htm

C. District Courts Within the Third Circuit

Delaware http://pacer.ded.uscourts.gov/

New Jersey http://pacer.njd.uscourts.gov/

Pennsylvania

Eastern https://ecf.paed.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl

Middle https://ecf.pamd.uscourts.gov/

Western http://pacer.pawd.uscourts.gov/

IV. Case Law

All precedential case law is on the Internet and is free. However, F.3d citations and F.3d pinpoint citations are available only from commercial sources.

A. Supreme Court

http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/opinions.html

http://www.findlaw.com/casecode/supreme.html

B. Third Circuit

1. Third Circuit (Official)

http://www.ca3.uscourts.gov/indexsearch/archives.asp

http://www.ca3.uscourts.gov/recentop/week/recprec.htm

• No F.3d citations

• Only cases from last several years

• Search for party name and case number

• Recent cases are in Portable Document Format (PDF)

• Published and unpublished cases

• Best for checking recent developments

2. FindLaw

http://www.findlaw.com/casecode/courts/3rd.html

• No F.3d citations

• Only cases from last several years

• No sophisticated search mechanism

• Recent cases are in PDF

• No word wrap

• Best for checking recent developments

3. Villanova

http://vls.law.vill.edu/Locator/3/

• No F.3d citations

• Archives since 1994

• No effective search mechanism

• No word wrap

4. CD-ROM & Westlaw / Lexis

• Effective searches

• F.3d citations with pinpoint cites

• Word wrap

• Editorial enhancements

5. schnaufer.com

http://www.schnaufer.com/3d.htm

• Recent list of precedential Social Security cases

• No search capability

• F.3d citations without jump cites

• Only most recent cases

C. District Courts Within the Third Circuit

1. Self-published Cases

Delaware http://www.ded.uscourts.gov/

New Jersey http://lawlibrary.rutgers.edu/fed/search.html

Pennsylvania:

Eastern http://www.paed.uscourts.gov/us03006.asp

Middle http://www.pamd.uscourts.gov/opinions.htm

Western http://www.pawd.uscourts.gov/Headings/opinions.htm

2. Lexis and West

• Many more district court decisions than self-published cases

• Effective search capability

V. Social Security Act

Social Security practitioners seldom need to review the Social Security Act. Internet sources are just as useful as commercial sources for checking a statutory provision.

A. Social Security Act

http://www.socialsecurity.gov/OP_Home/ssact/comp-toc.htm

B. Public Laws

http://www.gpoaccess.gov/plaws/index.html

C. United States Code

http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/42/ch7.html

http://www.gpoaccess.gov/uscode/index.html

http://uscode.house.gov/title_42.htm

http://uscode.house.gov/

D. Legislation

http://thomas.loc.gov/

E. (House) Subcommittee on Social Security

http://waysandmeans.house.gov/

F. (Senate) Committee on Finance

http://finance.senate.gov/

VI. Regulations

Regulations are an essential authority for Social Security practitioners. Even though free Internet sources provide comprehensive coverage of regulations, the convenience and speed of a CD-ROM (copied onto a hard drive) is favorable to the Internet sources. The Internet sources, however, are ideal for verifying the currency of a regulation.

A. Social Security Online

1. 20 CFR as of April 1, 2003

E.g., 20 C.F.R. § 404.1527 (2003).

http://www.socialsecurity.gov/OP_Home/cfr20/cfrdoc.htm

2. April 2, 2003 — present

http://www.socialsecurity.gov/regulations/final-rules.htm

For example, the recent burden of proof regulations:

Clarification of Rules Involving Residual Functional Capacity Assessments; Clarification of Use of Vocational Experts and Other Sources at Step 4 of the Sequential Evaluation Process; Incorporation of "Special Profile" Into Regulations, 68 Fed. Reg. 51,153-51,167 (Aug. 26, 2003) (to be codified at 20 C.F.R. Parts 404 and 416).

3. Social Security Online Search

http://www.socialsecurity.gov/search/

a. Concept, Boolean, or Pattern?

• Use "pattern" search for regulations, e.g.:

• consultative examination CFR

• treating source CFR

• substantial gainful activity CFR

b. Comments

• Inefficient

• Imprecise

• Requires knowing too much

B. National Archives and Records Administration

1. Annual CFR

http://www.gpoaccess.gov/cfr/index.html

• Reliable

• True copy of printed CFR

• Retrieve history CFR sections to 1996

2. Current Regulations

http://www.access.gpo.gov/ecfr/

• Regulations in effect today, not just as of April 1, 2003

• Practitioner must still know what is in the annual CFR

C. Cornell Legal Information Institute

http://cfr.law.cornell.edu/cfr/cfr.php?title=20

D. Lexis and West Group

• Fastest when working for CD-ROM (copied onto a hard drive)

• No differentiation between April 1, 2003 regulations and newer regulations

• Word wrap

E. Proposed and Recent Regulations

http://policy.ssa.gov/

http://www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/index.html

VII. Social Security Rulings and Acquiescence Rulings

A. Social Security Online

1. Finding List By Year

http://www.socialsecurity.gov/OP_Home/rulings/rulfind1.html

2. Recent SSRs and ARs

http://www.socialsecurity.gov/regulations/ssa-rulings.htm

3. Social Security Online Search

http://www.socialsecurity.gov/search/

Use Boolean operators with the term "SSR" as in:

SSR AND trial AND work AND period

4. Disadvantages

• No word wrap

• Not easily searchable

5. Internet Citation

The citation for an SSR or an AR at Social Security Online is ideal for a federal court brief whenever an SSR or an AR is not attached to that brief. Consider the following sentence from a brief citing an SSR for the first time in that brief:

At step five, only full-time work is considered. Social Security Ruling (SSR) 96-8p.¹

¹ Available at http://www.socialsecurity.gov/ OP_Home/rulings/ di/01/SSR96-08-di-01.html. By regulation, ALJs must follow Social Security Rulings. 20 C.F.R. § 402.35(b) (2003). Social Security Rulings are published in the Federal Register and republished by the agency at http://www.socialsecurity.gov/OP_ Home/rulings/.

B. Lexis and West

• Boolean searching

• Word wrap

C. Search Tips and Sample Searches

• No substitute for familiarity with rulings

• Sample simple Boolean searches

1996 AND stoop!

stoop! AND light

• Do not assume that SSR includes acronym

((residual /1 functional) OR RFC)

(dictionary OR dot)

• Do not assume latest lingo

(medical /1 (advisor OR expert))

D. Federal Register for Recent SSRs and ARs

http://www.gpoaccess.gov/fr/index.html

VIII. HALLEX

A. Social Security Online

The HALLEX at socialsecurity.gov is now the official version. All citations should use the new citations at socialsecurity.gov.

http://www.socialsecurity.gov/OP_Home/hallex/hallex.html

B. Lexis, Matthew Bender, and West

C. Search Tips and Sample Searches

1. Understand Organization of HALLEX

Volume I has five divisions:

Division 1 - General Subjects
Division 2 - Administrative Law Judge Hearings
Division 3 - Appeals Council Review
Division 4 - Civil Actions
Division 5 - Temporary Instructions

Volume II

Part 1 - Circuit Court Case Reporter
Part 2 - [Omitted]
Part 3 - [Omitted]
Part 4 - Preambles To Selected Regulations
Part 5 - Appeals Council Interpretations
Part 6 - Appeals Text Guide

2. Sample Searches

ALJ AND post! and proffer!

ALJ AND dismiss! AND (fail! /p appear!)

IX. POMS

A. Social Security Online

http://policy.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/aboutpoms

(Watch for link at socialsecurity.gov.)

B. SSA Publications on CD-ROM

http://www.socialsecurity.gov/sspcd.htm

C. Lexis/Matthew Bender and West

X. Social Security Online

New URL: http://www.socialsecurity.gov/

Old URL: http://www.ssa.gov/

A. What’s There

• Social Security Act

• Regulations

• Proposed regulations

• SSRs and ARs

• Online Social Security Handbook

http://www.socialsecurity.gov/OP_Home/handbook/ssa-hbk.htm

• Blue Book (Listings)

http://www.socialsecurity.gov/disability/professionals/bluebook/

• Red Book (Work Incentives)

http://www.socialsecurity.gov/work/ResourcesToolkit/redbook.html

• Select forms and publications

http://www.socialsecurity.gov/online/

• Some contact information for local offices

http://s3abaca.ssa.gov/pro/fol/fol-home.html

• Documents of interest to representatives

http://www.socialsecurity.gov/representation/

• Legislation and Congressional Testimony

http://www.socialsecurity.gov/legislation/

• Commissioner Barnhart’s Chart

http://www.socialsecurity.gov/disability/disability_process_frameset.html

B. What’s Not There

• Case law

• Many phone numbers

XI. Other Sources and Tools

A. Google

http://www.google.com/

• Search ssa.gov and socialsecurity.gov

B. NOSSCR

http://www.nosscr.org/

C. Social Security Advisory Service

http://www.ssas.com/

1. Discussion Board

http://ssas.com/connect/

2. Links for Social Security Practitioners

http://ssas.com/connect/

3. Important Authority Not Readily Available Elsewhere

http://www.ssas.com/files.htm

a. 137 Unskilled Sedentary Occupations

http://www.ssas.com/137sed.htm

b. May 10, 2001 Childhood Disability Questions and Answers

http://www.ssas.com/childq&a.htm

D. Charles Martin’s e-mail List

To subscribe, contact an existing list member for sponsorship.

This is a sample e-mail message to Charles Martin’s list:

To: [Charles Martin list]
From: Eric Schnaufer
Subject: 9th Cir. 8/20/03 Chenery, Dodrill, Treating Physician, Credibility, and Judicial Remedy

http://www.schnaufer.com/9th.htm links to Connett v. Barnhart, -- F.3d --, No. 01-36102 (9th Cir. Aug. 20, 2003) (credibility finding affirmed in part reversed in part) (rejection of treating physician rejection affirmed) (court has choice whether to credit as true testimony that was erroneously found not credible) (Chenery).

Notes: Connett is a rare case taking issue with a district court's method of judicial review. In a special case, Connett could be reason for a Rule 59(e) motion. Connett will be much more useful to fight adverse reports and recommendations and agency merits briefs.

E. Arborwood Discussion Board

http://www.arborwood.com/awforums/show-toparea-1.php?fid=5345&taid=1

F. Cornell Legal Information Institute Social Security Library

http://www.law.cornell.edu/socsec/

G. Social Security Advisory Board

http://www.ssab.gov/

http://www.ssab.gov/OutsideReports.html (reports regarding closing the record, judicial review, government representative)

http://www.ssab.gov/chartbookB.pdf (statistics, page 86)

H. Government Accounting Office

http://www.gao.gov/

http://www.gao.gov/daybook/031112.htm (SSA Disability Decision Making: Additional Steps Needed to Ensure Accuracy and Fairness of Decisions at the Hearings Level) (Nov. 12, 2003)

XII. Vocational Resources

A. Dictionary of Occupational Titles

http://www.oalj.dol.gov/libdot.htm

West integrates the Dictionary of Occupational Titles with the Selected Characteristics of Occupations Defined in the Revised Dictionary of Occupational Titles and Enhanced Guide for Occupational Exploration.

B. Occupational Outlook Handbook

http://www.bls.gov/oco/home.htm

C. O*NET

http://online.onetcenter.org/

XIII. Attorney Fees

A. Social Security Online

http://www.socialsecurity.gov/representation/

B. BLS COLA

http://www.bls.gov/cpi/home.htm

C. Altman Weil, Inc.

http://www.altmanweil.com/products.cfm