Editorial
Front Page - Friday, April 2, 2010
Michael Buchanan walking in his father’s footsteps
David Laprad
Chattanooga attorney Michael Buchanan is the president and co-owner of Dale Buchanan and Associates, which helps clients secure disability benefits.
- David Laprad
From where Chattanooga attorney Michael Buchanan sits, he can see the staff at Table 2 Restaurant on East 11th Street getting ready for the evening meal. He can hear the clang and clatter of the kitchen staff preparing food, watch as a waitress darts over to a pair of late lunchers and see a male worker unloading supplies behind the bar. Each of these employees is capable of earning an income and supporting himself.
Some people, however, are unable to work due to a medical condition. Although they might have been gainfully employed at one time, they’re no longer able to do what they did before or adjust to another job. When that happens, people sometimes seek out the services of Michael or his father, Dale, attorneys who have made a name for themselves securing disability benefits for clients.
“The first two stages of obtaining disability benefits in Tennessee involve the state,” Michael says. “From there, people can appeal to the federal level. That’s where the nitty gritty of our work is done.”
The firm of which Michael is president and co-owner, Dale Buchanan and Associates, is comprised of six offices throughout Tennessee and Alabama. The attorneys and trained legal assistants that make up the company spend most of their time preparing cases and arguing them before administrative law judges. It can be slow and laborious, but also rewarding, work.
“Over the years, I’ve learned to be patient,” Michael says. “I have to be, even though it’s the hardest part of my job. I hate to see people suffering.”
Many of Michael’s clients have already applied for benefits and been denied, which can be demoralizing. “People take it to heart when they believe they’re disabled but Social Security tells them they’re not,” Michael says. “I tell them that’s why I’m here. I let them know I don’t believe what the letter says and that I’ll take their case and prove otherwise. I try to bolster their morale.”
Michael must then encourage his client for the duration of his case, which isn’t always easy. “Just the anxiety of waiting can take a high toll on someone, even if they have another source of income or means of support,” Michael says.
To help clients through the process, Dale Buchanan and Associates has developed an outreach program through which they connect clients in Hamilton County with medical issues, but no means to address them, to resources in the community. Specifically, the firm supports Project Access and Volunteers in Medicine, two aid organizations that provide medical services to low-income, uninsured residents.
“I had a client with a brain infection who couldn’t get treatment because she didn’t have insurance,” Michael says. “In a situation like that, I’ll make every call I can to get the person treatment.”
Michael didn’t charge his client a fee because of the heartbreaking nature of her case. “Sometimes we know we’re not going to make any money on a case but we take it anyway,” he says.
Dale Buchanan and Associates is in a good position to help clients, too, given the many years of experience the attorneys at the firm have in disability law. Dale began his law career as a staff attorney with the Social Security Administration, first in Los Angeles and then in Chattanooga, from 1975 to 1983.
Not only did his work teach him the ins and outs of disability law, but as he wrote decisions for the judges, he saw an opportunity to start a firm that focused on helping clients through the process.
“He wrote a business plan, took it to a savings and loan, and told them how much he needed and how much he’d make,” Michael says. “Although we have a lot of competition today, very few people were doing that back then.”
Born in 1976, Michael lived and breathed the firm growing up. “My mom helped my dad manage the business side of the firm, so while they were struggling to get it started, it’s what we talked about at dinner,” he says. “After things got going, we established a rule against discussing business at the dinner table. That was a relief.”
From high school on, Michael knew he might end up following in his father’s footsteps. However, he also loved the outdoors, so after graduating from the College of Charleston with a bachelor’s degree in history, he moved to Wyoming and explored his options. “I did landscape construction and worked at a ski resort,” he says. “While I loved being out West, I didn’t see those things as a career path.”
In time, his father called and asked him to help open a new office. Michael agreed and, after graduating from the Cecil Humphreys School of Law at the University of Memphis and passing the bar, went to work with his dad.
“The first summer after I graduated from law school, I did about 250 hearings,” he says. “My dad had opened an office in Knoxville, and it was taking off, so he hired me and a buddy from school to help handle his exploding case load. It felt good to get in the trenches and dig in my heels.”
Michael is still enjoying the work he does. Beyond the satisfaction of helping people he says deserve benefits but aren’t getting them, he says he likes the nut and bolts of making an office a great place to work and being an employer responsible for the welfare of his staff, which numbers about 50.
“I also enjoy working with the judges,” he says. “Many of them have done this work as attorneys, so they understand the process. I like sitting down with them outside of a hearing and discussing either national policy issues or some of the local issues that affect them and how we can help to improve the process.”
Michael might enjoy interacting with the judiciary, but he has no desire to join it. Instead, he plans to continue traveling to his firm’s offices for hearings and intakes well into the future. This should allow his clients, and the people who seek the help of the other attorneys at Dale Buchanan and Associates, to rest easy, as they’ll always have access to a skilled advocate that will walk alongside them as they navigate a long and difficult road.
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