Approval rates
Judge Ballieu maintains a lifetime approval rate of 61% across 15,785 lifetime decisions. In the most recent reporting period, his approval rate reached 68%, placing him 3 percentage points above the current national average of 58%. This data is derived from a decade of service, providing a substantial sample size for evaluating historical trends. 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 Ballieu'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
Over his 10-year tenure, your judge has seen approval rates fluctuate, starting at 49% in 2016 and reaching a peak of 75% in 2023. While the early years of his career showed lower approval rates, the trend shifted upward significantly beginning in 2020. The most recent data from 2025 shows a 66% approval rate, suggesting a stabilization following the higher activity observed in 2023. This pattern reflects a judge whose approach to evidence and case requirements has evolved over time.
Preparing for an SSDI hearing
The guidance below applies to any SSDI hearing, not specifically to Judge Ballieu'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.
Other judges at this hearing office
The Social Security Administration utilizes a workload-balancing algorithm to assign cases, meaning the judge you are assigned is essentially random. Within the Tampa hearing office, lifetime approval rates among the bench vary, ranging from 48% to 70%. Because of this variance, understanding the office-wide environment is as important as looking at any single judge. You can find more information on the Tampa hearing office page.
Your odds change dramatically with a lawyer
Source: U.S. Government Accountability Office, GAO-18-37. The 3× gap is a population-wide average across all judges; individual outcomes vary.