Approval rates
Comparing a judge's approval rate to broader benchmarks provides context for your hearing process. Judge Hamilton's lifetime rate of 68% is measured against the West Des Moines office latest rate of 55% and the national average of 58%. These figures are derived from a significant docket of 22,914 lifetime decisions, offering a stable view of historical trends. 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 Hamilton'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 10-year tenure, Judge Hamilton has presided over 22,914 lifetime decisions. The yearly trend shows a steady rise in approval rates, moving from 60% in 2016 to 78% in 2025. This recent uptick in the latest reporting period indicates a departure from earlier trends. Such patterns often reflect shifts in case complexity or the quality of evidence you present, though the overall trajectory remains clearly defined by this long-term data.
Preparing for an SSDI hearing
The guidance below applies to any SSDI hearing, not specifically to Judge Hamilton'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. At the West Des Moines hearing office, the bench consists of 6 judges with lifetime approval rates ranging from 38% to 70%. Because case assignment is outside of your control, understanding the office-wide environment is as important as reviewing an individual judge. You can find more information on the West Des Moines 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.