Approval rates
Judge Bentley maintains a lifetime approval rate of 50%, a figure derived from a docket of 18,713 lifetime decisions over an 8-year tenure. In the most recent reporting period, the judge recorded an approval rate of 56%, which is 1 percentage point below the local office average and 8 percentage points below the national average of 58%. These metrics provide a baseline for understanding historical decision-making trends at this office.
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 Bentley'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 the past 8 years, your approval rate with Judge Bentley has shown a varied trajectory. After a period of lower approval rates between 2019 and 2021, the data indicates a shift toward higher approval rates in recent years, reaching 55% in 2025. This fluctuation suggests that recent decisions align more closely with broader office trends than in previous years.
Preparing for an SSDI hearing
The guidance below applies to any SSDI hearing, not specifically to Judge Bentley'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.
About the Mcalester hearing office
The Mcalester Hearing Office serves a broad population across Oklahoma, managing a high volume of disability claims. With a bench of 4 judges, the office maintains an average approval rate of 51%. You can visit the Mcalester 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 assignment to Judge Bentley is essentially random. Within the Mcalester Hearing Office, lifetime approval rates among the bench range from 36% to 50%. Because each judge operates with their own judicial philosophy, understanding the office-wide environment is helpful for your preparation.
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.