The hearing will be presided over by a Federal Administrative Law Judge.  There will also be other experts at the hearing, who try to help the judge find out whether you're disabled, and whether you're able to do certain jobs.  You will be asked a series of questions by the judge and by these other experts concerning your disability and your ability to perhaps find other kinds of jobs to earn a living.

Unfortunately, some people give up hope or get discouraged; they decide to just forget about it and never follow through with actually going to a hearing.  The idea of going before a judge can be intimidating or daunting.  The thought of having to sit before the judge and answer questions without knowing the "right" way or the "wrong" way to answer questions is indeed a scary thought for most.

Social Security Hearings - Non-Adversarial

A Social Security hearing is considered to be "non-adversarial".  In other words, there will not be another lawyer at the hearing who is trying to prove that you're not disabled.  Also, the judge is not trying to prove that you aren't disabled.  Simply put, the hearing is nothing more than a formal meeting that will help the judge decide whether you are or aren't disabled.

However, just because the hearing is not adversarial doesn't mean that you don't need a lawyer.  It is entirely possible to lose a case, simply because you answer a question the wrong way.  Sometimes cases are lost because the claimant didn't know what to say to the other experts present at the hearing.  The claimant often has no idea what questions they're going to even be asked.