About William Viner, Esq. — Colorado SSDI Attorney | Viner Disability Law

The government is supposed to work for its citizens — not the other way around.

I’ve spent my career representing Coloradans whose Social Security disability claims have been denied, delayed, or buried by a federal bureaucracy that too often forgets why it exists. Over the past decade, my firm has represented thousands of clients and recovered more than $50 million in disability benefits for Colorado families. Every dollar of that came out of a fight with the same agency that was supposed to deliver it in the first place.

That fight is the whole job. It’s also why I do it.

Why disability law

My path to disability law is driven by a lifelong commitment to fighting for people who have been pushed down — particularly when the injustice comes from the federal government. The government is supposed to work for its citizens, not the other way around. When it fails to do its job, the impact on real lives is devastating and immediate, and that rubs me the wrong way.

Growing up, I saw firsthand the challenges faced by family members with disabilities. That personal experience lit something in me — not just to protect people, but to actively promote their independence, freedom, and dignity. Social Security disability isn’t an abstract legal field to me. It’s the arena where I can stand up to a massive government bureaucracy and make sure individuals get the advocate they deserve.

The asymmetry is what attracts me. On one side, a federal agency with effectively unlimited resources. On the other, a single person who — by definition of qualifying for benefits — is too sick to work, trying to recover what they paid for through years of payroll taxes. That imbalance shouldn’t be settled by who happens to know the rules. It should be settled by who actually qualifies. A good lawyer is how that gets enforced.

Background

I grew up in Iowa City, Iowa. Ever since I was a little boy taking family ski trips and summer hiking trips to the mountains, I knew where I was going to land. I moved to Colorado in 2010, the week after I graduated from the University of Iowa College of Law.

My professional path has run through several environments. I’ve handled high-end, complex litigation for Fortune 100 corporate clients. I’ve worked alongside attorneys from the country’s most demanding firms. I’ve also represented people in the smallest, quietest disputes you can imagine — the kind that never make news but mean everything to the person involved. The skill that translates across all of it is the ability to listen carefully and to translate between worlds: explaining a corporate executive’s situation to a small-town jury, and explaining a small-town claimant’s situation to a federal administrative law judge.

What the practice actually does

Viner Disability Law is attorney-only and SSA disability only. That’s a deliberate choice.

Most firms that handle disability work also handle a dozen other practice areas: personal injury, workers’ comp, criminal defense, family law. Many use non-attorney representatives for the actual hearings. We don’t. Every case I take is handled by an attorney, from the first phone call through, if necessary, federal court. I personally appear at every hearing I’m engaged for.

We serve all of Colorado — Denver and the Front Range, the mountain communities, the Western Slope, the Eastern Plains. We handle every stage of the SSDI and SSI process: initial application, reconsideration, ALJ hearing, Appeals Council, and U.S. District Court appeals. Most of my clients come to us after a denial, which is when the process gets technical enough that representation actually moves the needle.

We work on contingency. No fee unless you win. When we do win, the fee is set by federal regulation: 25% of past-due benefits, capped at $9,200. It comes out of your back pay, not your monthly check, and never out of your pocket up front.

Outside work

When I’m not in the office, my life centers around my family and the Colorado outdoors.

My daughters and my wife of more than ten years are the most important thing in the world to me. We spend as much time as possible outside together: skiing, hiking, and camping.

I’m also an avid mountain biker. The accumulated wear is a small but useful reminder of the physical realities my clients live with every day. I play guitar in a local band when life allows. And I’m a serious home coffee roaster, which means I have opinions about origin, roast curve, and rest time. (Ask me about it sometime; I’ll keep it short.)

What I care about

At my core, I’m drawn to advocating for marginalized people who are in pain, marginalized, and lack a strong voice to defend themselves.

The staggering injustice faced by citizens denied benefits they have paid for will not stand, and it fuels my desire to fight. I want to take the specific legal skills and resources I have and deploy them entirely on behalf of those who cannot advocate for themselves — making sure they are no longer invisible to the systems meant to protect them.

That’s the whole shape of this practice. Most of my clients have worked for decades, paid into Social Security every paycheck, and reached a point where their bodies or minds will no longer let them earn a living. The benefits they’re entitled to are the ones they already bought. My job is to make sure they receive them.

Why Colorado

I moved here in 2010. The mountains and the sunshine were the original draw. What’s kept me here are the people — Coloradans who, like me, chose this place deliberately, for the same reasons. Colorado is filled with people who transplanted themselves here out of a shared love for this state and this lifestyle. That makes them, truly, “my people.”

It’s also why the firm is Colorado-only by design. Federal disability law is uniform nationwide, and most hearings are now conducted by phone or video, so we technically could represent claimants anywhere. We don’t. The vast majority of our work is for Coloradans, because Colorado is where I live, where I practice, and where I know the hearing offices, the ALJs, the medical landscape, and the specific patterns of cases that win.

What truly defines my practice

A diverse professional and personal background that lets me relate to almost anyone. I grew up in a rural part of the country and attended small colleges, but I’ve also worked with Fortune 100 companies and handled high-end, complex litigation. Whether a client comes from a small-town background or a corporate environment, I can speak their language, build genuine rapport, and understand where they’re coming from.

That skill is vital in disability cases. The people I represent are at a vulnerable moment in their lives. Being heard matters as much as being represented.