Approval rates
Comparing a judge's lifetime performance against current office and national benchmarks provides context for your upcoming hearing. While the national approval rate currently sits at 58%, Judge Beers has maintained a lifetime rate of 42% over her 10 years on the bench. These figures are derived from a substantial docket of 21,482 lifetime decisions, offering a stable look at her historical decision-making.
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 Beers'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 her 10-year tenure, Judge Beers has seen fluctuations in her approval patterns. After reaching a peak approval rate of 53% in 2021, the data shows a shift toward lower approval rates in recent years, with the latest period recording 37%. This trend reflects the evolving nature of the cases heard and the specific evidentiary requirements of the Houston West Hearing Office.
Preparing for an SSDI hearing
The guidance below applies to any SSDI hearing, not specifically to Judge Beers'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 Beers? Free, confidential — see if you qualify for SSDI.
Free Benefits ReviewAbout the Houston-Bissonnet hearing office
The Houston West Hearing Office serves a large population of claimants across Texas, managing a high volume of disability appeals. With a bench of 6 judges, the office maintains a latest approval rate of 56%. You can see the Houston West Hearing Office page for the full ALJ roster.
Other judges at this hearing office
The Social Security Administration utilizes a workload-balancing algorithm to assign cases, meaning your judge is selected randomly. Within the Houston West Hearing Office, the 6 ALJs range from 29% to 55% in their lifetime approval rates. This variance highlights that the specific judge assigned to your case can influence the process.
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.