Approval rates
Comparing a judge's lifetime performance against current office and national benchmarks provides a clearer picture of your local hearing environment. While the national average approval rate currently sits at 58%, Judge Griswold has maintained a 42% lifetime rate over 10 years on the bench. These figures are derived from 20,050 lifetime decisions, offering a statistically significant look at past patterns. 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 Griswold'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 a decade on the bench, Judge Griswold has presided over 20,050 decisions. The yearly trend shows a period of lower approval rates between 2018 and 2021, followed by a shift toward higher approval rates in recent years, reaching 57% in 2025. This recent activity represents a departure from the earlier lifetime average. Such shifts often reflect changes in the complexity of cases or the quality of evidence presented.
Preparing for an SSDI hearing
The guidance below applies to any SSDI hearing, not specifically to Judge Griswold'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 Griswold? Free, confidential — see if you qualify for SSDI.
Free Benefits ReviewAbout the Springfield MA hearing office
The Springfield MA Hearing Office serves you and other claimants across Massachusetts and the surrounding region. It is staffed by a team of ALJs who manage a high volume of disability claims. The office currently reports an approval rate of 59%, which provides a baseline for your local hearing environment.
Other judges at this hearing office
The SSA uses a workload-balancing algorithm to assign cases, meaning your assignment to a specific judge is essentially random. Within the Springfield MA Hearing Office, lifetime approval rates among the bench range from 42% to 65%. While you cannot choose your judge, understanding the range of outcomes at your office helps you set realistic expectations for your hearing.
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.