The hearings are fairly informal. The only people likely to be there are the judge, a secretary operating a tape recorder, the claimant, the claimant’s attorney, and anyone else the claimant has brought with him or her. In some cases, the Administrative Law Judge has a medical doctor or vocational expert present to testify at the hearing. There is no jury, nor are there any spectators at the hearing. There is no attorney at the hearing representing Social Security or trying to get the judge to deny the disability claim.
