Meet Michael, the Founder of Michael Armstrong Law
During my practicing years, nearly all my clients wanted to know, “What do you think the outcome of my case will be?” However, each case involves an individual, and no two individuals are alike.
As someone who represented over 7,500 clients since 1985, I came to learn how to evaluate each case individually, a process I passed down to my successor, Laura Johnson.
I taught my staff to listen carefully as a client describes how his or her disability makes holding a job difficult or impossible. It is important to know how the impairment affects his or her ability to communicate, follow instructions, complete tasks, and get along with co-workers, supervisors, and the public. It is also important to know what challenges they have with attention, concentration, and focus.
I learned to listen during my 10 years in the mental health field prior to becoming a lawyer when I worked with children, adolescents, adults and families. Then, during my early years as a lawyer, I represented clients in landlord/tenant disputes, divorce cases, child custody, those fired from their jobs, and people charged with crimes.
In 1996, I opened Michael Armstrong Law in Albuquerque and focused on social security disability and employment law. For many years prior to my retirement, I practiced social security disability law exclusively due to the complex nature of the field.
Only after hearing a client’s story can we formulate a plan that increases the probability of a client’s success—the plan may include contacting their doctor, taking statements from family or friends, obtaining school records, or scheduling an evaluation by a psychologist.
Before going to hearing, I taught my staff to fully develop the client’s case file and prepare them for questioning so he or she will know what to expect. This helps them tell their story to the judge with accuracy and in detail.
A wise administrative law judge once told me “you have to evaluate each claim on its own merits.” I believe that being skilled in the law is only part of what it takes to represent clients successfully—honesty, compassion and maturity are the other attributes needed. These values continue to guide the practice I established decades ago and are the ones we want all clients to encounter when they enter the doors of the firm.
Michael Armstrong received his MA in Social Ecology from University of CA, Irvine in 1977, and his law degree from the University of Toledo, Ohio in 1984. He has been licensed to practice law in Washington state since 1985 and in New Mexico since 1996. He grew up in southern California and is spending his retirement years biking, hiking, and surfing.