Francis M. Jackson

Jackson is also the author of Social Security Disability Law, A reference for New England Disability Claims, Speaker Media Press, 2013. He was writing a book on veterans compensation and pension benefits.

In September 2012, Jackson was presented with a Quilly award by the National Academy of Best Selling Authors for his contribution as a joint author of the book, Protect and Defend, where he wrote about protecting and defending ones rights to disability compensation from the VA.

Jackson won an important case, Ainsworth v. SSA (2010), in the United States District court in New Hampshire, where he successfully argued against the use of telephone testimony by experts in Social Security disability cases. He recently won Jenkins v. Colvin (2015), a Maine case establishing that Social Security judges cannot ignore or overrule vocational testimony favorable to the claimant and Maniscalco v. Colvin (2016), in Massachusetts, establishing that vocational expert testimony must be based upon the actual experience of the vocational witness. Jackson is a joint presenter of annual seminars for other attorneys regarding social security matters.

Jackson attended the 1993 founding meeting of the National Organization of Veterans Advocates (NOVA) of which he is a member. He is the secretary of the Maine State Bar Association Veterans Law Section. He has presented at continuing legal education programs sponsored by the bar association to teach lawyers about veterans law. He has participated in free legal clinics for veterans to review their claims and advise them of their rights regarding veterans benefits. Jackson has also presented on veterans law for Maine's libraries. He has handled hundreds of veterans cases at the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims and the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit as well as representing veterans in hearings before local Veterans Administration (VA) hearing offices and before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals all across the country.

Before limiting his practice to injury and disability work, Mr. Jackson won the case State v. Anaya, in which he was the first attorney in Maine ever to win a murder case based on the battered woman defense. He also won severance benefits for an entire class of employees who were terminated by Schlumberger Technologies in Bellino v. Schlumberger, 944 F.2d 26 (1st Cir. 1991).

Francis M. Jackson (born 1949) is an American veterans law and personal injury attorney who is also an authority on Social Security disability. He has practiced law since 1977 and is a founding partner in the law firm of Jackson & MacNichol.