Approval rates
Comparing a judge's performance to broader benchmarks provides context for your upcoming hearing. Judge Fow maintains a lifetime approval rate of 53%, which sits 3 percentage points below the current Phoenix office average and 5 points below the national average. These figures are derived from a docket of 1,343 lifetime decisions, offering a clear view of her historical decision-making.
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 Fow'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 tenure, Judge Fow has maintained a consistent approach to disability claims. With 1,343 lifetime decisions recorded during her 1 year on the bench, the data shows a steady pattern of adjudication. The approval rate of 53% reflects a focused evaluation of the evidence you present in your case.
Preparing for an SSDI hearing
The guidance below applies to any SSDI hearing, not specifically to Judge Fow'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 your assignment to a specific judge is essentially random. Within the Phoenix office, lifetime approval rates across the bench range from 36% to 78%. Because you cannot choose your judge, it is vital to focus on the strength of your medical evidence and testimony.
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.