Approval rates
Comparing a judge's performance to broader benchmarks provides context for your upcoming hearing. While the Dallas North office maintains a recent approval rate of 65%, Judge Ebbers' lifetime rate is 39%. These figures are based on a significant volume of 891 lifetime decisions, offering a stable view of historical patterns. These aggregate rates reflect past trends rather than specific outcomes for your 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 Ebbers'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 3 years on the bench, Judge Ebbers has maintained a consistent pattern of decision-making. Following an initial period in 2017, the data shows a stable trend in approval rates through 2019. This consistency across 891 lifetime decisions suggests a predictable approach to evidence evaluation. The recent data reflects a continuation of this steady pattern.
Preparing for an SSDI hearing
The guidance below applies to any SSDI hearing, not specifically to Judge Ebbers'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.
Other judges at this hearing office
The Social Security Administration utilizes a workload-balancing algorithm to assign cases, meaning you cannot choose your judge. Within the Dallas North office, lifetime approval rates among the bench range from 39% to 80%. Because assignment is random, you may be scheduled before any of the office's 6 judges. You can find more information on the office's general procedures on the Dallas North hearing office page.
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.