represents injured and disabled clients of all ages in the effort to obtain monthly Social Security Disability and/or Supplemental Security Income benefits and the medical care, which accompanies these awards. She is a former chairperson of the West Virginia State Bar Committee on Social Security. She is an author of a chapter on Social Security Disability Practice in the West Virginia State Bar Handbook for West Virginia Lawyers. has appeared before more than a hundred different administrative law judges. She has practiced before the Offices of Hearings and Appeals of Charleston, West Virginia; Huntington, West Virginia; Morgantown, West Virginia; Pittsburgh, PA; Washington, DC; and Charlottesville, VA. She regularly files Social Security appeals in the United States District Courts of the Northern and Southern Districts of West Virginia. She is admitted to practice before the Court of Appeals of the Fourth Circuit and has practiced pro hac vice before the Court of Appeals of the Third Circuit. represented the appellant in Coffman v. Bowen, 829 F. 2d 514 (4th Cir. 1987). She is a sustaining member of the National Organization of Social Security Claimants, Representatives (NOSSCR) and a former member of the board of directors representing the five states of the Fourth Circuit and the District of Columbia. is a graduate of the West Virginia University School of Law and a member of the West Virginia State Bar. Her undergraduate degree was earned at Furman University. is married to the famous West Virginia potter, Brian Van Nostrand. They are the parents of Lise-Marie VanNostrand Shickert, M.A. of Louisville, Ky, and Bryson VanNostrand, architect and proprietor of Lascaux Micro Theatre, of Buckhannon, WV. is involved in public interest and environmental protection issues, outside of her practice of law. She is a member/supporter of the Sierra Club, World Wildlife Fund, Nature Conservancy, Union of Concerned Scientists, Natural Resources Defense Council, Green Peace, Earth Justice, Interfaith Alliance, Citizens for Global Solutions, Fair Media Project, National Committee to Protect Social Security and Medicare, A.C.T., VOTE SMART, West Virginia Citizens Action Group, Co-op America, League of Women Voters, American Civil Liberties Union, Common Cause, Friends of West Virginia Public Radio, and World Link TV.At the local level, and her family have been active in Put Children First, Inc. a non-profit organization dedicated to the children of Hacker Valley Grade School. She assists her community from time to time with projects involving country churches and cemeteries.