Although she was only forty-seven years old, Vanessa’s arthritis was so painful that she required a cane to walk and needed assistance with most of her household chores, including putting on her shoes. In addition to arthritis, Vanessa also suffered from high blood pressure, Hepatitis C, and severe depression. Unable to continue working as a sandwich maker, Vanessa was barely getting by on the roughly $500.00 per month she received in food stamps and Interim Disability Assistance, so she applied for Social Security disability assistance. Like the majority of disability applicants, Vanessa was turned down by the Social Security Administration, so she was referred to the Law Firm Clinic by the Scott McNeilly of the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless. Vanessa’s case was placed at the law firm of Foley & Lardner in November 2006. Foley Senior Counsel Nathan Beaver agreed to represent Vanessa in her appeal to an Administrative Law Judge.

On July 13, Vanessa was awarded Social Security benefits by Judge Arthur at her hearing—a reversal of the SSA's earlier denial. In fact, Judge Arthur ruledin her favor both with respect to her SSI claims and SSDI claims going back to August 2005 without taking Vanessa’s testimony, based largely on the strength of the Foley brief, which he complimented was "very good."

Nathan was ably assisted Foley Summer AssociatesBen Dryden and Yuri Jung. Ben was primarily responsible for the initial drafting of the brief, whileYuri was responsible for the witness affidavits and witness preparation. While Nathan served as the Vanessa’s Personal Representative at the hearing, prior to going on the record, Judge Arthur also questioned Ben and Yuri about the case. Nathan reports that both Summer Associates performed admirably in their first appearance before a Judge and that Vanessa was very happy with the result of the case.