Approval rates
Comparing a judge's approval rate to broader benchmarks provides context for your upcoming hearing. Judge Conyers maintains a lifetime approval rate of 65%, which is 7 percentage points higher than the national average of 58%. While this figure is lower than the latest Oklahoma City office average of 73%, the data is drawn from a substantial docket of 13,707 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 Conyers'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 a 6-year tenure, Judge Conyers has presided over 13,707 decisions, showing a distinct evolution in approval patterns. Starting with a 48% approval rate in 2016, the trend shifted upward, reaching 95% by 2021. This trajectory suggests that recent decisions have been more favorable than those in the early years of this judge's career. The latest period reflects a continuation of this steady pattern of increased allowances.
Preparing for an SSDI hearing
The guidance below applies to any SSDI hearing, not specifically to Judge Conyers'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 Conyers? Free, confidential — see if you qualify for SSDI.
Free Benefits ReviewAbout the Oklahoma City hearing office
The Oklahoma City Hearing Office serves a large population across Oklahoma, managing a high volume of disability claims. With a bench of 6 judges, the office maintains a latest approval rate of 73%, reflecting local adjudication trends. You can expect a formal administrative process focused on medical documentation and vocational testimony. You can find more information on the Oklahoma City Hearing Office page.
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 Oklahoma City Hearing Office, individual lifetime approval rates range from 43% to 79% across the bench. Because of this variance, understanding the office-wide environment is as important as looking at any single judge. For preparation purposes, the guidance remains consistent regardless of which judge you are assigned.
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.