Approval rates
Comparing a judge's approval rate to broader benchmarks provides context for your upcoming hearing. Judge Alexander maintains a 50% lifetime approval rate, which sits 8 points below the current Morgantown Hearing Office average of 58% and 8 points below the national average. These figures are derived from 3,752 lifetime decisions. Aggregate rates describe past decisions, not predictions for your individual hearing.
Office- and national-level breakdowns of fully favorable vs denial rates aren't currently published by SSA in the per-office disposition data. The judge's own breakdown is the detail we have today.
Approval rate over time
Year-over-year approval rate across Judge Alexander's docket. Annual rates fluctuate with the mix of cases SSA assigns; the longer-run pattern is more informative than any single year.
Decision pattern
Judge Alexander's approval rate has shown an upward trajectory over his 3 years on the bench. Starting at 42% in 2016, his approval rate rose to 50% in 2017 and reached 59% by 2018. This steady increase suggests an evolution in his decision-making pattern. Recent rulings align more closely with broader office averages.
Preparing for an SSDI hearing
The guidance below applies to any SSDI hearing, not specifically to Judge Alexander's bench. Judge-specific preparation guidance requires a corpus of public Appeals Council decisions involving each judge, which we haven't built yet.
- Bring a clean treating-physician record. Longitudinal primary-care or specialist notes spanning the disability period, with consistent symptom documentation, are typically the strongest evidence at hearing. A single month's records usually aren't enough.
- Don't rely on consultative exams alone. If your medical evidence is built primarily around a one-time CE finding, expect detailed questioning. Supplement with treating-source statements where possible.
- Prepare for daily-activity questions. Have honest, specific answers about a typical day. Answers that conflict with the medical record (in either direction) tend to hurt credibility.
- Expect transferable-skills probing. A vocational expert will usually testify about jobs available to someone with your limitations. Your representative should be prepared to cross-examine.
Hearing with Judge Alexander? Free, confidential — see if you qualify for SSDI.
Check My BenefitsAbout the Morgantown hearing office
The Morgantown Hearing Office serves you across West Virginia, managing a high volume of disability cases. With a bench of 6 judges, the office maintains a latest approval rate of 58%. You can expect a standard administrative process governed by 20 CFR Part 404. You can visit the Morgantown Hearing Office page for the full ALJ roster.
Other judges at this hearing office
The Social Security Administration assigns cases through a workload-balancing algorithm, meaning your assignment to a specific judge is essentially random. Within the Morgantown office, lifetime approval rates among the 6 judges range from 49% to 66%. Because you cannot choose your judge, your focus should remain on the strength of your medical evidence and testimony.
Your odds change dramatically with a lawyer
SSDI hearing approval rates — represented vs. on your own
Source: U.S. Government Accountability Office, GAO-18-37. The 3× gap is a population-wide average across all judges; individual outcomes vary.