Approval rates
Your judge's approval rate is evaluated against the latest performance of the Lexington Hearing Office and national benchmarks. While the lifetime approval rate stands at 53%, recent data shows a 46% approval rate during the latest reporting period. These figures provide a statistical baseline for understanding how cases are processed in this office. 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 Crocker'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 decade on the bench, Judge Crocker has presided over 23,461 lifetime decisions. The yearly trend shows a period of stability, with approval rates fluctuating between 49% and 58% throughout their tenure. While the most recent data indicates a slight shift compared to the lifetime average, the overall pattern remains steady. This consistency suggests that the judge follows established Social Security Administration guidelines for evaluating your disability claim.
Preparing for an SSDI hearing
The guidance below applies to any SSDI hearing, not specifically to Judge Crocker'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 Crocker? Free, confidential — see if you qualify for SSDI.
Free Benefits ReviewAbout the Lexington hearing office
The Lexington (Kentucky) Hearing Office serves a significant population of claimants across the region. With a bench of 6 judges, the office manages a high volume of disability hearings annually. The office currently maintains a 52% approval rate, reflecting the complex nature of the cases reviewed in this jurisdiction. You can visit the Lexington 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 the judge you are assigned is determined by administrative necessity rather than choice. Across the Lexington Hearing Office, lifetime approval rates for the bench range from 46% to 54%. Because case assignment is random, you may be scheduled with any of the judges at this location. You can find more information on the office's general performance on the Lexington Hearing Office page.
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.