Rossana L. D'Alessio is an SSA Administrative Law Judge at the Ft Lauderdale office, where you will find a 64% lifetime approval rate over 21,823 decisions. This sits above the national average of 58%. While her recent approval rate of 71% is higher than the office average of 48%, these rates describe past decisions, not predictions for your individual hearing. An attorney can help you prepare for this judge's specific bench.
This page presents publicly available SSA Office of Hearings Operations disposition data, with no editorial rating or evaluation. ALJs are independent decisionmakers; aggregate statistics describe past patterns, not predictions of how any individual case will be decided. Information here is provided for hearing preparation, not as legal advice.
Approval rates
Rossana L. D'Alessio has presided over 21,823 lifetime decisions during a 10-year tenure. In the latest reporting period, your judge maintained a 71% approval rate. This data is derived from a substantial docket, providing a stable view of historical trends.
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 D'Alessio'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 decade, your judge's approval rate has fluctuated, reaching 76% in 2024 and 69% in 2025. These annual variations reflect the changing nature of the cases heard. The judge currently approves cases at a rate higher than the local office average.
Preparing for an SSDI hearing
The guidance below applies to any SSDI hearing, not specifically to Judge D'Alessio'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 D'Alessio? Free, confidential — see if you qualify for SSDI.
Free Benefits ReviewAbout the Ft Lauderdale hearing office
The Ft Lauderdale Hearing Office manages a high volume of disability claims. With a bench of 6 judges, the office operates under a complex caseload. The office-wide latest approval rate is 48%, which provides a baseline for the region.
Other judges at this hearing office
The Social Security Administration assigns cases using a workload-balancing algorithm, meaning your assignment to a specific judge is essentially random. Within the Ft Lauderdale Hearing Office, lifetime approval rates among the 6 judges range from 36% to 68%. Understanding the broader office environment is as important as knowing your assigned judge.
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.
