“For [Social Security Disability] representatives who perceive their advocacy in the more radical terms we describe above, the opening statement is indispensable. The opening statement presents one of the ‘practical moments’ that often go unnoticed. These moments may actually provide a central opportunity for rebellious lawyering, in part because they are ‘unpredictable’ and, thus, among the ‘‘small everyday details’ of practice that offer the greatest chance of reorienting the traditional sensibilities and skills of advocacy.’”  (Citing Rebellious Lawyering (1992))

Excerpted from Linda S. Durston, Linda G. Mills, TOWARD A NEW DYNAMIC IN POVERTY CLIENT EMPOWERMENT: THE RHETORIC, POLITICS, AND THERAPEUTICS OF OPENING STATEMENTS IN SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY HEARINGS, 8 Yale J.L. & Feminism 119 (1996).

#RebelliousLawyering