SSD Law in the Federal Courts/Circuits – 2026 Spring National Conference – Track I (Presented by National Organization of Social Security Claimants’ Representatives)

Sarah H. Bohr, Esq., Partner | Bohr & Harrington LLC

Sarah H. Bohr is a partner at Bohr & Harrington LLC in Jacksonville, Florida, and one of the country’s most distinguished Social Security disability appellate attorneys. She has specialized in Social Security law for over 40 years, offering a national brief writing service and representing claimants in district courts across dozens of states and in the First, Second, Third, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Ninth, and Eleventh Circuit Courts of Appeal. Sarah began her career at Jacksonville Area Legal Aid, Inc., where she worked for more than 20 years. She is a past president of the National Organization of Social Security Claimants’ Representatives (NOSSCR) and was a 2007 recipient of NOSSCR’s Eileen P. Sweeney Distinguished Service Award, given in recognition of her distinguished service on behalf of people with disabilities in America. Among the highest points of her career, Sarah successfully argued Sims v. Apfel, 530 U.S. 103 (2000), before the Supreme Court of the United States.

• Education & Credentials

Sarah earned her Juris Doctor from the Antioch School of Law in Washington, D.C. She is a licensed attorney with active admissions across a wide range of federal district and circuit courts, and is recognized as one of the field’s foremost experts in Social Security appellate practice. She is also the author of multiple widely used publications for practitioners, including Sarah Bohr’s Guide to Key Social Security Rulings, Sarah Bohr’s Guide to Social Security Disability Law, Winning Appeals Council Arguments, and Eleventh Circuit Social Security Cases — resources that have become standard references for disability advocates nationwide.

• Recognition & Leadership

Sarah’s recognition includes some of the highest honors in the Social Security disability field. She received the NOSSCR Eileen P. Sweeney Distinguished Service Award in 2007, served as president of NOSSCR, and testified before the Social Security Subcommittee of Congress during her presidency. In February 2008, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Orlando Division, presented her with a professionalism award for her pro bono service as court-appointed Inventory Attorney in 72 Social Security federal court cases. She was also presented with a court-appointed role in those cases in recognition of the quality and dedication of her work on behalf of the court. She is a member of NOSSCR’s Council of Past Presidents and is a frequent speaker at national Social Security conferences.

• Professional Involvement

Sarah is a frequent lecturer on Social Security issues at national conferences, covering a wide range of administrative and federal court topics. Through her national brief writing service at Bohr & Harrington LLC, she provides appellate support to practitioners across the country, writing briefs for filing in district courts nationwide and in most federal circuit courts of appeal. Her published practitioner guides — including her pocket guides on key Social Security rulings and Winning Appeals Council Arguments — reflect a long-standing commitment to elevating the quality of representation across the disability bar, whether through her own advocacy or through the resources she makes available to fellow practitioners.

• Experience

Sarah Bohr’s career in Social Security law spans more than four decades, beginning at Jacksonville Area Legal Aid in 1978 — first as a non-attorney representative while awaiting bar results, and then as a staff attorney for over 20 years. Her practice has covered every dimension of Social Security law, from administrative representation and class action litigation to district court appeals, circuit court appeals, and Supreme Court argument. Her successful argument in Sims v. Apfel before the Supreme Court stands as one of the landmark moments in modern Social Security appellate law. Through Bohr & Harrington LLC, she continues to offer a national brief writing service and to serve as one of the disability bar’s most prolific and respected practitioners, authors, and educators.

Jon C. Dubin, Esq., Board of Governors Distinguished Service Professor of Law & Associate Dean for Clinical Education | Rutgers Law School

Jon C. Dubin is the Board of Governors Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Clinical Education at Rutgers Law School in Newark, New Jersey, where he has been a tenured law professor for over 30 years. He is a recipient of NOSSCR’s Eileen P. Sweeney Distinguished Service Award, an elected member of the National Academy of Social Insurance, and has served on the Administrative Conference of the United States Social Security Disability Adjudication Project Working Group. He is the author of Social Security Disability Law and the American Labor Market (NYU Academic Press, 2021), co-author of eleven editions of the treatise Social Security Disability Law and Procedure in Federal Court, and co-author of the first hardcover Social Security law casebook, Social Security Law, Policy, and Practice. He has also supplied solicited testimony to Congress on Social Security disability reform.

• Education & Credentials

Jon earned his Bachelor of Arts from Dartmouth College and his Juris Doctor from New York University School of Law. Before joining the Rutgers faculty, he served as a law clerk to U.S. District Judge John L. Kane Jr., as assistant counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, as Director of Litigation for the Harlem Neighborhood Office of the Legal Aid Society, and as the Marvin M. Karpatkin Fellow on the ACLU’s national staff. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Social Insurance and has served on the Administrative Conference of the United States Social Security Disability Adjudication Project Working Group.

• Recognition & Leadership

Jon’s honors are among the most distinguished in legal academia and the Social Security disability field. He received the 2014 NOSSCR Eileen P. Sweeney Distinguished Service Award, the 2002 Edgar and Jean Cahn Award from the National Equal Justice Library for one of the most outstanding articles about access to justice published in the entire 20th century, and the 2014 Clinical Legal Education Association award for outstanding contributions on behalf of clinical teachers. The U.S. Supreme Court twice cited his scholarship in Sims v. Apfel (2000) — adopting his article’s doctrinal label of ‘issue exhaustion’ — and again in Biestek v. Berryhill (2019). Rutgers University awarded him the Board of Governors Distinguished Service designation, one of only fourteen Rutgers professors ever to receive that honor at the time.

• Professional Involvement

Jon has served on the Administrative Conference of the United States Social Security Disability Adjudication Project Working Group, chaired the Association of American Law Schools’ Poverty Law Section, and served on the boards of the National Center on Law and Economic Justice, the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, the Clinical Law Review, and the Clinical Legal Education Association. He has supplied solicited testimony to Congress on Social Security disability reform and co-counseled the successful appeal in Sims v. Apfel before the Supreme Court, where he served as principal drafter of the Petitioner’s brief. His scholarship and advocacy consistently operate at the intersection of Social Security disability law, poverty law, civil rights, and clinical legal education.

• Experience

Jon Dubin has been a tenured law professor at Rutgers Law School for over 30 years, serving for much of that time as Associate Dean for Clinical Education and Director of the Clinical Program. His scholarship focuses on the Social Security disability programs, poverty law, civil rights, and clinical legal education. He is the author of Social Security Disability Law and the American Labor Market (NYU Academic Press, 2021) — which examines how SSA disability policy has failed to keep pace with transformations in the American labor market — and co-author of eleven editions of Social Security Disability Law and Procedure in Federal Court (Thomson Reuters) as well as the first hardcover Social Security law casebook. His career integrates teaching, scholarship, Supreme Court advocacy, congressional testimony, and federal advisory service into one of the most comprehensive and impactful bodies of work in the Social Security disability field.

I. SSD Law in the Federal Courts/Circuits | 9:45am – 11:00am

This session will identify, summarize and highlight significant developments and trends in Circuit SSD caselaw and other SSD caselaw developments where appropriate for the past year.