Don’t Look Back in Anger: Leveraging Prior Claims to Your Client’s Benefit – NOSSCR 2026 Fall National Conference – Track I (Presented by National Organization of Social Security Claimants’ Representatives)

Blair Biser, North Carolina Board Certified Social Security Disability Law Specialist | Deuterman Law Group

Blair Biser is a North Carolina Board Certified Social Security Disability Law Specialist.

• Education & Credentials

Blair attended Wake Forest University as an undergraduate, earning a Bachelor of Arts, and earned his law degree from the University of North Carolina School of Law. He was admitted to the N.C. State Bar and the N.C. Supreme Court in 2005, the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of N.C. in 2007, and the Federal District Court for the Middle District of N.C. in 2008.

• Recognition & Leadership

In 2010, he became one of a select group of attorneys certified by the N.C. State Bar as board certified specialists in Social Security Disability Law.

• Professional Involvement

He has served on the N.C. State Bar’s Social Security Disability Specialization Committee since 2020.

• Experience

He has spent over two decades representing claimants before the administration and in the federal district courts of North Carolina. He currently practices with the Deuterman Law Group out of their Durham, North Carolina office. When not in the office, he is singing, taking pictures, traveling the beautiful state of North Carolina, and spending time with his daughter and his dog, Tilly.

Billie Guthrie, N.C. Board Certified Social Security Disability Attorney | Deuterman Law Group

Billie Guthrie is an N.C. Board Certified Social Security Disability attorney with the Deuterman Law Group.

• Education & Credentials

Billie earned a bachelor’s degree in social work from Appalachian State University, a master’s degree in social work from UNC, and her law degree from North Carolina Central University School of Law in 2011, where she was a member of the Pro-Bono Law Program and the Veterans Law Clinic and spent a semester studying international law at Pepperdine Caruso School of Law in London. She was admitted in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 2012 and the N.C. State Courts in 2020.

• Recognition & Leadership

She is the past president of Threshold, a psychiatric rehabilitation program in Durham. During her social work career she served as director of youth and family services for the Mental Health Association of Orange County.

• Professional Involvement

She is a member of the North Carolina Advocates for Justice, serving on its Disability Advocacy executive committee, Women’s Caucus, and New Lawyers Division.

• Experience

Before her career as an attorney, she used her Masters in Social Work to counsel and advocate for disabled adults and people dealing with persistent mental health issues and homelessness. Billie lives in Durham, NC with her partner, Travis, and their many furry housemates. She enjoys playing volleyball, gardening, and spending time in nature.

SESSION 1 – Don’t Look Back in Anger: Leveraging Prior Claims to Your Client’s Benefit | 11:00am – 12:00pm

This session will focus on strategies for tapping into prior claims that have been approved, denied, terminated or abandoned. With a survey of the concepts of reopening, res judicata, and collateral estoppel, we will explore how to breathe new life into a claim and maximize benefits for your client.