Lawyers and the Secret Welfare State

Authors

Milan Markovic, Texas A&M University School of LawFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-2016

Journal Title

Fordham Law Review

ISSN

0015-704X

Abstract

This Article suggests that the United States maintains a secret welfare state. The secret welfare state exists because of lawyers’ ubiquitous use of questionable practices in representing clients before benefit-granting government agencies, which enable thousands of individual to collect public benefits who may not qualify for them. This Article focuses in particular on lawyers’ handling of evidence of nondisability in Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) proceedings and participation in Medicaid planning. It may be possible that the legal profession’s central role in the distribution of public benefits is an obstacle to a fairer and more transparent social safety net.

First Page

1845

Last Page

1865

Num Pages

20

Volume Number

84

Issue Number

5

Publisher

Fordham Law School

Recommended Citation

Milan Markovic, Lawyers and the Secret Welfare State, 84 Fordham L. Rev. 1845 (2016).
Available at: https://scholarship.law.tamu.edu/facscholar/729

File Type

PDF