Jess Leventhal, partner, founded the Bucks County Social Security Disability law firm of Leventhal Sutton & Gornstein in 1978. Mr. Leventhal has practiced in the area of Social Security Disability and Supplemental Security Income for over thirty-five years, and has represented thousands of individual disability claimants during that time. He has lectured extensively on disability law to lawyers and lay people at the National Organization of Social Security Claimants’ Representatives (NOSSCR), the Pennsylvania Bar Institute, and numerous mental health facilities and non-profit organizations. Mr. Leventhal regularly appears on The American Law Journal television show, and many of his appearances can be found on youtube.com. Mr. Leventhal graduated from Whittier College in 1973, the Dickinson School of Law of Pennsylvania State University in 1976 and Temple University Master of Laws Program in 1980.
Thomas D. Sutton, partner, has been at the Philadelphia Social Security Disability law firm of Leventhal Sutton & Gornstein since 1994, after working 10 years for legal services programs in Atlanta, Georgia and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is a Past President and current member of the Board of Directors of the National Organization of Social Security Claimants’ Representatives (NOSSCR). Mr. Sutton has represented thousands of individual disability claimants, and served as co-counsel in the United States Supreme Court in Sullivan v. Zebley, 493 U.S. 521 (1990), a nationwide class action on behalf of over 400,000 disabled children. Mr. Sutton has successfully litigated hundreds of cases in the federal courts, including precedential opinions from the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Ramirez v. Barnhart, 372 F.3d 546 (3d Cir. 2004), Markle v. Barnhart, 324 F.3d 182 (3d Cir. 2003), and Walton v. Halter, 243 F.3d 703 (3d Cir. 2001). Mr. Sutton has lectured extensively on disability law throughout the United States, has testified before Congressional committees, has participated in meetings with the highest Social Security officials, and has served as a faculty member for NOSSCR, the Pennsylvania Bar Institute and numerous other legal education forums. Mr. Sutton graduated from Haverford College in 1978 and the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1984.
Sharon Gornstein, partner, has been at the Philadelphia Social Security Disability law firm of Leventhal Sutton & Gornstein since 1996. Before coming to the firm, Ms. Gornstein clerked for the Honorable Jerome B. Simandle of the U.S. District Court of New Jersey, and spent 11 years working for Community Legal Services in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Ms. Gornstein has represented thousands of individuals applying for disability and has successfully litigated hundreds of cases in the federal courts, including the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Ms. Gornstein has served for the past 10 years as planner and faculty member for Pennsylvania Bar Institute seminars throughout Pennsylvania on Social Security Disability law, has lectured at medical facilities and non-profit organizations about Social Security Disability law, and serves on an ad-hoc advisory committee to the Pennsylvania Bureau of Disability Determination, the state agency that makes initial decisions on disability applications. Ms. Gornstein graduated from the University of Missouri in 1975 and from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1984.
Jason L. Thompson, associate, has been at the Bucks County Social Security disability law firm of Leventhal Sutton & Gornstein since 2002. Before arriving at the firm, Mr. Thompson had extensive experience in the area of Social Security Disability as a law clerk in a private firm in Ohio. Mr. Thompson has represented thousands of claimants before the Social Security Administration, including writing hundreds of appeals to Social Security’s Appeals Council. Mr. Thompson has successfully litigated cases in federal courts in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Mr. Thompson is admitted to the state bar in Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Mr. Thompson graduated from Oberlin College in 1993 and the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law in 2003.
Thomas L. Berger, associate, has been at the Bucks County Social Security disability law firm of Leventhal, Sutton & Gornstein since 2005, after years of service in the Social Security Administration. Mr. Berger is a former Senior Attorney and Supervisory Attorney with Social Security’s Office of Disability Adjudication and Review, where he served as in-house counsel and legal advisor to Administrative Law Judges in hearing offices throughout the Philadelphia metropolitan area for ten years. Mr. Berger has extensive knowledge of the inner workings of the Social Security Administration, having worked for 22 years as a Claims Representative, Operations Analyst, Security Analyst and Operations Supervisor at various Social Security field offices in Virginia, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Mr Berger is admitted to the bar in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. He graduated from Wilmington College in 1968 and Rutgers University School of Law in 1993.