Did you know that we now have a dedicated benefits liaison to assist you with questions about your disability benefits, community assistance or any other areas of law? Attorney Kelly Arnold has been with OBL for five years. She has an extensive history of working in this field, including working as a benefits counselor, representing claimants at the Pitt Health Law Clinic in law school, and working as an Attorney Advisor for the Social Security Administration, Office of Disability Adjudication and Review (now called Office of Hearing Operations).

This new role grew out of a desire to better serve our clients who call us regarding issues that arise post-entitlement. Some of the most common questions we receive relate to work activity—either people who have been receiving benefits and now want to try their hand at working again, or people who did try working, but found themselves with an overpayment or notice of cessation. Kelly is knowledgeable about work incentives and community resources that can aid our clients in a transition back to the workforce and prevent some of the common problems that arise.

Our goal is to end every call with the caller knowing what their next step should be even when we cannot take them on as a client or help them with some specific issue. Whenever possible, Kelly gives them a phone number or the name of an individual or organization who may be able to help them. “If I do not have someone to refer them to, I try to at least direct them to the type of resource they need. There are still scenarios where I truly do not know where to direct them, but I hope to minimize how often that happens over time,” adds Kelly. Over the next several months, Kelly’s focus will be on building a comprehensive database of other attorneys, businesses, and community organizations who can potentially aid our clients with those issues that fall outside of our usual scope. We want all of our staff to be able to direct clients, potential clients, and former clients to assistance and Kelly is spearheading that effort!