The Judge Matters
Nov. 25, 2025
Many Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) claims will only have a good chance for approval after going to hearing with a Social Security Administration Administrative Law Judge (ALJ). In 28+ years of practice I have seen every type of ALJ that exists. The vast majority of ALJ’s try their level best to bring their best to each hearing they oversee. Judges bring their life experiences to the bench just as you bring your life experiences to what you do each day.
In my experience, judges’ rates of approval generally rise from what they are at the earliest points of their careers. I think it can take a while for a new judge to understand the challenges of a disability claimant’s life. My sense that judges with longer experience tend to have higher rates of approval is supported by a study conducted by the National Bureau of Economic Research showing that up until 2016 that judges had higher rates of claim allowances the longer ago they were hired by SSA.[1] The more recent the group of judges were hired the fewer claims they approved.
There are some judges who have statistically unusual rates of claim approvals and some who have unusual rates of denials. Social Security’s Office of the Inspector General published a report showing the twelve judges in their system with the highest rates and lowest rates of claim allowance.[2] If you read the report linked at footnote two (2) the chart is on page 12. You can see for the “high pay” judges that the rate ranged from an unusual 95% down to an 88% approval rate. The low pay rates were from a shockingly low 6% to a still hard to understand 21%. The pay rate average for each office these judges were in is also shown. Keep in mind that each high pay or low pay judge is influencing the average pay rate of their respective office (dragging the average down for a low pay judge and up for the high payment rate judges). No city had more than one of the “high pay rate” judges. But unfortunately, two of the “low pay rate” judges were in San Antonio, TX and Fort Lauderdale, FL.
If you draw a judge who tends to have a low rate of approvals talk with your lawyer about the plan to present your claim with the best chance of success and also what can be done to improve the chances of getting the judge to see things your way. You can look up the recent decision history for the judge assigned to your case, or the decision rates for the judges in your city here: https://www.ssa.gov/appeals/DataSets/03_ALJ_Disposition_Data.html
Take advantage of our free no obligation consultation with our firm about your rights by calling for an appointment 877-966-1212.
[1] https://www.nber.org/brd/20244/appellate-judges-and-declining-rate-ssdi-approvals?page=1&perPage=50