NEED SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY? 

Joe grew up in Bend, Oregon, where he worked as a legal assistant for his father, Jonathan Duerst, an attorney. After graduating high school with honors, he earned his bachelor’s degree in Film & Music Production at Oregon State University. He became an award-winning writer and filmmaker before enrolling at Arizona State’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, one of the top-ranked law schools in the country.

​While at Arizona State, Joe focused on litigation and interned at the St. Louis County Prosecutor’s Office in St. Louis, MO, where he obtained the highest pro bono distinction while litigating DUII license revocations and working on a murder prosecution. He also traveled abroad to Italy as a student of Arizona State’s Australian sister-school, Monash University School of Law, and developed a love of travel.

After obtaining his Juris Doctor at Arizona State in 2012, Joe became licensed in Arizona and worked at the Law Offices of Stephanie Lake, P.C. (Now American Disability Law), where he managed the office and represented thousands of claimants in disability hearings.

Joe met his wife Ellen, a student at Arizona State University studying genetics, while attending law school and they married in 2014. They enjoy traveling around the world and playing with there adorable dog Simi. In 2019 they welcomed their first daughter into the world, Hayden Audrey.

​In 2019, he decided to start J Disability with the goal to provide a more positive experience for his clients.