Approval rates
Comparing a judge's approval rate to office and national benchmarks provides context for your hearing. Judge Havens has a lifetime approval rate of 50% across 25,400 lifetime decisions. In the most recent reporting period, the approval rate was 49%, compared to the 71% average at the Tucson Hearing Office and the 58% national average. These aggregate rates describe past decisions rather than predicting your specific outcome.
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 Havens'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 Havens has navigated a shifting caseload. The yearly trend shows a period of higher approval rates between 2016 and 2020, followed by a decline in recent years, with a 48% approval rate in 2025. This pattern reflects the complexities of the evidence presented and the specific case mix assigned to the bench. The recent data suggests that your current environment requires a robust presentation of medical evidence.
Preparing for an SSDI hearing
The guidance below applies to any SSDI hearing, not specifically to Judge Havens'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 Havens? See if a free benefits review fits your case.
Free Benefits ReviewAbout the Tucson hearing office
The Tucson Hearing Office serves you and other claimants across Arizona, managing a significant volume of disability cases. With a bench of 6 judges, the office maintains a high level of activity to process regional claims. You should be prepared for a thorough review of your medical records and vocational history. You can see the Tucson 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. Within the Tucson Hearing Office, lifetime approval rates among the 6 ALJs range from 50% to 80%. This variance highlights why focusing on the strength of your own medical documentation is essential. You can find more information on the Tucson Hearing Office page.
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.