Meet Lawrence Mabes

A spotlight on a professional team member who works for you at Nash Disability Law

If you are one of the more than 40 million Americans who live in a home where Spanish is the primary spoken language, you may be interested to know that at Nash Disability Law we have a full-time native Spanish-speaking attorney on our team, Lawrence Mabes. “My mother is from Chile” Lawrence explains, “and I grew up in Connecticut in a bilingual household, but at an early age my family moved to Spain. I earned my first law degree in Chile.”

Nearly everyone (unless they are an experienced disability attorney) finds the Social Security disability process complicated and difficult to understand. But if English is not your first language, then it can be especially overwhelming. “Outreach to the Spanish-speaking community is critically important,” Lawrence says, “because I feel that the Spanish-speaking community can be underserved at times. ‘Spanish spoken here’ is not the same as dealing with a truly bilingual attorney. Our ability to close the cultural and language barriers helps us provide current and future clients with unmatched service. For me it’s not just the ability to speak to clients in their language, but also the insight to truly understand them.”

Lawrence originally joined the Nash staff in 2010 and then practiced disability law in New York City for a number of years. We welcomed him back to the firm in 2016. These days he takes on broad range of duties for both Spanish and English-speaking clients—meeting with them, prepping them for their hearings, supervising the Nash case managers and other staff, reviewing medical evidence, communicating with the Social Security Administrative Law Judges and Social Security Administration staff, and, most important of all, fiercely advocating for Nash clients at their hearings. He has appeared at over a thousand Social Security Disability hearings, fighting for people to get the benefits they have earned.

Not only is his work life full; his free time is jam-packed, too. Lawrence loves to spend time with his wife Emily, his two (and soon to be three) children, and their lovable Papillion-Chihuahua puppy.

He plays tennis, reads, and gives back by supporting the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP).

You only have to spend a few moments with Lawrence to know that he is passionate about his clients and the work that the firm does helping people who have difficulty doing it alone. “I enjoy getting to know my clients and their stories,” Lawrence explains. “It is all about making a personal connection and using what I’ve learned over the years to get really deserving people their benefits.”