Approval rates
When evaluating your hearing, it is helpful to understand how a judge's approval rate compares to broader benchmarks. Judge Fun maintains a lifetime approval rate of 62%, which sits 4 percentage points above the national average of 58%. While the Charlotte office currently reports a 72% approval rate, your individual case outcome depends on the specific evidence you present. 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 Fun'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 6 years on the bench, Judge Fun has presided over 9,536 lifetime decisions. The yearly trend shows a period of steady activity, with approval rates fluctuating between 58% and 68% during the peak of your tenure. While the most recent reporting period shows a divergence from the office average, the long-term data reflects a consistent approach to case evaluation. This pattern suggests that the decision-making process remains grounded in the specific medical and vocational evidence provided in your file.
Preparing for an SSDI hearing
The guidance below applies to any SSDI hearing, not specifically to Judge Fun'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 Fun? Free, confidential — see if you qualify for SSDI.
Free Benefits ReviewAbout the Charlotte hearing office
The Charlotte Hearing Office serves you across North Carolina, managing a high volume of disability appeals. With 6 judges on the bench, the office maintains an office-wide latest approval rate of 72%. You can expect a formal process focused on the documentation of your impairments and work history. You can see the Charlotte 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 essentially random. Within the Charlotte Hearing Office, lifetime approval rates among the 6 judges range from 28% to 78%. Because of this variance, understanding the office environment is a standard part of your hearing preparation. 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.