I had a law firm help with my application for SSDI. I am quite sure that no lawyer at that firm ever lifted a finger to do any of the work for me or ever even heard my name. As far as I could tell, everything the firm did was done by clerks in the office. I got approved in 3 months. The lawyers would have stepped in, if I got denied. So it's not bad to be referred to a paralegal at your stage in the process.

There is a long form that has to be filled out describing your jobs, job failures, and your everyday life. When you fill that out, you need to know how to answer those questions. You need to be your own lawyer in filling out that form. I strongly recommend you buy a couple of books on the subject and start reading all you can on-line. Start watching presentations by lawyers on youtube. The paralegal might give you some tips, but I would recommend you educate yourself. Ideally, the lawyer should coach you on how to answer those qestions, but I don't believe any law firms provide that coaching, unless the lawyer is your brother. There may even be ethical constraints on what coaching they could provide. Most people screw that form up, get denied, and then the lawyer tries to straighten it all out, usually winning because the law office wouldn't even take your case, unless you met criteria that they associate with an 85% chance if getting your claim approved.

But the law clerks or paralegals are real good at rounding up the medical records and doing all the paperwork that doesn't require an intimate knowlege of your sittuation. They let you know what you have to do and when you have to do it.

I commend your decision to work with a law firm. I'm pretty good at paperwork, but I wouldn't want to have tackled all this on my own. Ask the firm if they waive fees, in the event that you fail to get approved. If they don't, you might want to switch to a big law firm that just does disability. The federal government tightly controls what law firms can charge you. They can't charge much at all, if you don't ultimately get approved. Furthermore, if you get approved quickly, they may not make a dime on you. That could be another reason why they don't sit you down and counsel you on how to fill out that big set of forms on your daily life. There's plenty of free counsel on the Internet and at the library. Avail yourself of it. I did and filled out that form, knowing what they needed to hear. I got approved in 3 months, anf I didn't pay the law firm a penny.