Approval rates
When evaluating your case, it is helpful to look at how Judge Evans compares to broader benchmarks. His lifetime approval rate of 67% is 15 percentage points higher than the latest office average and 9 points above the national average. These figures are derived from a docket of 3,574 lifetime decisions, providing a statistical baseline. 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 Evans'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 your 2 years on the bench, Judge Evans has maintained a consistent record. His approval rate was 67% in 2016 and 66% in 2017, showing stability in his decision-making process. This pattern suggests that his approach to evaluating disability claims has been predictable throughout his tenure. The recent data reflects a continuation of this steady pattern, indicating that his criteria for allowances have remained largely unchanged.
Preparing for an SSDI hearing
The guidance below applies to any SSDI hearing, not specifically to Judge Evans'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 Evans? Free, confidential — see if you qualify for SSDI.
Free Benefits ReviewAbout the Long Beach hearing office
The Long Beach Hearing Office serves a population across California and manages a volume of SSDI claims. With a latest office-wide approval rate of 52%, the office operates within a regulatory framework. You should be prepared for a thorough review of medical records and vocational evidence. You can see the Long Beach Hearing Office page for the full ALJ roster.
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. At the Long Beach Hearing Office, the bench consists of 6 judges whose lifetime approval rates range from 29% to 72%. Because of this variance, the judge you draw can influence the context of your hearing. For preparation purposes, the guidance is the same 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.