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Disabled workers face unique challenges navigating how to maintain critical benefits while pursuing their careers, and the legal profession is no exception. This applies to disabled legal professionals, students, and recent graduates entering the workforce for the first time, as well as disabled legal professionals later in their careers who might need to exit the workforce or pare down their hours. This blog will discuss how Social Security benefits affect disabled legal professionals and the opportunities available to them.
Qualifying for Social Security Benefits
Many disabled workers are all-too-familiar with the Social Security Administration’s narrow definition of disability found in 42 USC § 416(i): “(A) inability to engage in any substantial gainful activity by reason of any medically determinable physical or mental impairment which can be expected to result in death or has lasted or can be expected to last for a continuous period of not less than 12 months, or (B) blindness; and the term ‘blindness’ means central visual acuity of 20/200 or less in the better eye with the use of a correcting lens.” In other words, the Social Security Administration says you’re disabled only if you absolutely cannot perform substantial gainful activity under any circumstances because of the direct medical effects of your physical or mental condition.
While what constitutes “substantial gainful activity” can get complicated (including analyses based on type of employment, type of benefits, work experience, or disability in some cases), as a general matter, SSA defines substantial gainful activity in terms of the dollar amount they’re earning from their employers. In 2026, a non-blind person with a disability earning $1690/month or more by working is performing substantial gainful activity. If a person earns more than that amount, they’re “not disabled,” no matter what else is going on in their life.
Types of Social Security Benefits
Complicating the issue even more, there are multiple Social Security disability programs. The first is Social Security Disability Insurance, or SSDI. SSDI is a social insurance program that individuals pay into throughout their careers. To be eligible for SSDI, in addition to meeting the strict definition of “disability,” an applicant must have worked a certain number of quarters of the previous several years. The amount a person can receive in benefits is calculated based on their past earnings. The maximum SSDI benefit is $4,152/month in 2026, but since the award is based on prior earnings, few people are eligible for that amount (the average SSDI benefit in 2025 was $1,762.22). Further, according to data from the US Census, disabled persons in the legal services industry earn approximately half what nondisabled persons do.[1] Thus, attorneys who enter their careers with disabilities or develop disabilities early on in their careers may not be eligible for as much in disability awards as attorneys who develop or acquire a disability later on in their careers.
There is also a program called Supplemental Security Income (SSI). SSI is a welfare program available to any disabled person (or person over 65) who meets resource limitation and disability eligibility requirements. The SSI recipient must have no more than $2,000 worth of assets (or $3,000 for a married couple). The maximum amount of SSI an individual recipient can receive is a measly $994 per month in 2026. The amount received is reduced by the amount of any other income received (including SSDI for those who might be eligible for both). With strict asset requirements, additional penalties for gifts and other types of income not from work, and a low maximum benefit, SSI leaves many disabled workers trapped in poverty. Disabled legal professionals are no exception.
The Impact of Work and Education on Social Security Benefits
When it comes to concerns about losing benefits to pursue a legal education, helpfully, education is not considered “substantial gainful activity” in the way a job is. Therefore, many people who receive disability benefits as a young person or prior to law school can make their way through law school with the assistance of SSI or SSDI. The question is, what next? Many disabled people may be worried about losing their benefits if they begin working, especially if they have concerns that full-time or thriving-wage work will not be sustainable. Finding part-time, flexible, and accommodating employment can be incredibly challenging, if not impossible.
After a certain amount of time of ineligibility for SSI or SSDI, a disabled person might need to re-apply entirely—a concern for disabled workers in any stage of their careers. If that happens, there is a five-month waiting period for SSDI benefits. Further, significant barriers and wait times exist for application processing, reviews, and appeals, leaving many disabled individuals without necessary benefits for months or years at a time. While “expedited reinstatement” allows those who lost their benefits to reinstate their benefits if they were terminated because they began working, this program is only applicable within the first five years of benefit termination.
Disabled legal professionals entering the workforce might also be concerned about losing health care benefits. For example, many disabled individuals are automatically eligible for Medicaid because they receive SSI benefits. They may, therefore, eventually lose Medicaid coverage if they no longer receive SSI. For many disabled people, Medicaid provides life-saving care, including home- and community-based services that allow disabled people to live and work in their communities. Similarly, disabled people who receive SSDI are eligible for Medicare coverage after 24 months of SSDI eligibility. Students receiving SSDI might be worried about eventually losing Medicare coverage.
Social Security Programs that Support Employment
For students or legal professionals who want to transition off Social Security benefits but are unsure of their ability to maintain employment, there are a few programs that purport to assist disabled workers in finding jobs. For example, the Ticket to Work program assists SSI and SSDI recipients in finding employers, frequently working through the recipient’s state’s Vocational Rehabilitation program. During the program, SSA does not conduct any continuing disability reviews (i.e. determinations as to whether the person remains “disabled”).
Work incentives programs allow recipients to test their ability to work for several months without losing their benefit eligibility. For example, people receiving SSDI, a “trial work period” allows them to test their ability to work for at least nine months. The SSDI recipient will receive full SSDI benefits regardless of earnings for nine months. An SSDI recipient who completes the trial work period may still receive benefits in any month they do not engage in substantial gainful activity for 36 months after their trial work period ends without having to re-apply for benefits.
However, these programs are complex, with labyrinthian eligibility rules and stringent reporting requirements. Mistakes by either SSA or disability recipients frequently result in overpayments, meaning that the SSA believes it paid a benefit recipient too much and is attempting to recoup that money. Alleged overpayments can surface years later and amount to thousands of dollars. Connecting with your local Work Incentives Planning and Assistance (WIPA) program is a good way to help you understand how work, or participating in a work incentives program, might affect your benefits. They can help better address your specific circumstances. To connect with your local WIPA, you can use the Social Security Administration’s search tool.
Policy Recommendations
NDLPA recommends the following to improve outcomes for disabled legal professionals who rely on SSI and/or SSDI benefits:
- Local- and state-run Vocational Rehabilitation offices should be more aware of the needs of disabled legal professionals and appropriately tailor resources for those interested in pursuing a career in the law.
- Work incentives programs must be abundantly clear about how their programs function to avoid loss of benefits and overpayments.
- Law school career services offices should receive training to prepare disabled law students who might be transitioning into the profession while navigating their current benefits.
- Social Security should increase income and substantial gainful activity limits, indexing them to inflation.
- Congress should eliminate, or at a minimum raise, the asset limit for SSI recipients.
- Congress should eliminate the five-month waiting period for SSDI benefits.
Key Takeaways
If you are a law student or legal professional on Social Security benefits, there may be options to help ensure you have the freedom to work, if you can and so choose, without losing your benefits. But these systems and programs can be tricky—and they were designed that way. When in doubt, connect with a benefits counselor, attorney, or other professional who can help.
Questions about how your benefits will be impacted by employment or how to navigate obtaining benefits? Reach out to us at info@cripthelaw.org.
About the Author: Audrey C. Miller is an Arizona civil litigator with extensive experience in Social Security disability appeals.
[1] According to the ACS 1-Year Estimates Public Use Microdata Sample for 2023, respondents in the Legal Services industry with a disability earned approximately $65,567 on average from their jobs; while persons without a disability earned $120,713. Limitations of this measure include that the “Legal Services” industry contains more job functions than simply “attorney.”