NY Disability Lawyers


Ruth Axelrod has practiced in the area of Social Security and SSI disability law since 1986. She was the disability law specialist at Legal Services for New York City, Brooklyn Branch for 12 years. In November 1996, Ruth established this law partnership with her friend and colleague, Bill Gottlieb. At Axelrod and Gottlieb, Ruth has continued to represent disabled adults and children in their claims against the Social Security Administration, at administrative hearings, appeals, and in Federal Court.

Ruth is a graduate of Boston University (1980) and Washington College of Law (1985) and is fluent in Russian. In May 1985, Ruth was admitted to the practice of law in New York State and was admitted to practice before the United States District Court for the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York in 1987. Ruth is a member of the New York County Lawyers Association and the National Organization of Social Security Claims Representatives. She has been on the Social Security and SSI disability panel of the Legal Referral Service of the New York City and County Bar Associations since 1997 and has participated in Law Day at the Multiple Sclerosis Society of New York since 1998.


	Bill Gottlieb started legal work with disabled people in 1985, assisting miners with Black Lung disease in the coalfields of Eastern Kentucky. He has worked in the area of Social Security/SSI disability law since 1987 and was Director of the Disability Law Project at Queens Legal Services in New York City.

At Axelrod and Gottlieb, Bill continues to work exclusively on cases involving mental or physical disability, representing adults and children in their Social Security disability/SSI claims. Bill holds a B.A. from Bard College, a J.D. from New York Law School, and an LL.M. from Columbia University School of Law. At NYLS he was Editor in Chief of the Human Rights Law Journal, and was named a Reginald Smith Community Lawyer Fellow upon graduation. In 1985, Bill was admitted to the practice of law in the State of New York and the Commonwealth of Kentucky and is admitted to practice before the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and the U.S. District Courts in the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York.