Approval rates
Comparing a judge's performance to broader benchmarks provides context for your upcoming hearing. Judge Garrety's lifetime approval rate of 40% is currently 6 percentage points below the Wilkes Barre Hearing Office average and 18 percentage points below the national average. These figures are derived from a docket of 12,282 lifetime decisions over her 8 years on the bench. 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 Garrety'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 8-year tenure, Judge Garrety has navigated a changing landscape of disability claims. Her yearly approval rates fluctuated from a low of 36% in 2018 to a more recent period of higher approval, including 62% in 2023. This shift suggests that the judge's recent decision-making environment may be influenced by evolving case mixes or evidence standards. These patterns offer a window into her judicial history, reflecting a transition from earlier, lower-approval years toward a more recent upward trend.
Preparing for an SSDI hearing
The guidance below applies to any SSDI hearing, not specifically to Judge Garrety'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 scheduled?
About the Wilkes Barre hearing office
The Wilkes Barre Hearing Office serves a significant population across Pennsylvania, managing a high volume of disability claims. With 6 judges presiding, the office maintains an office-wide latest approval rate of 46%. You should be prepared for a rigorous review of your medical records and vocational history. To learn more about the local bench, see the Wilkes Barre 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 your assignment to a specific judge is essentially random. At the Wilkes Barre Hearing Office, the bench consists of 6 judges with lifetime approval rates ranging from 29% to 59%. Because you cannot choose your judge, it is important to focus on the strength of your medical evidence and testimony. You can find more information on the local bench by visiting the Wilkes Barre 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.