Lawyers & the Secret Welfare State

Lawyers play an outsized role in the distribution of public benefits in the United States. This article suggests that, in assisting clients to circumvent stringent eligibility requirements for programs such as Social Security Disability Insurance (“SSDI”) and Medicaid, attorneys have created a secret welfare state that favors comparatively well-off Americans at the expense of the truly needy. Lawyers’ handling of evidence of non-disability in SSDI proceedings and participation in Medicaid planning is used to illustrate the argument. The article concludes by analyzing whether attorneys should serve as gatekeepers of the public benefits regime