Approval rates
Comparing a judge's performance to regional and national benchmarks provides helpful context for your upcoming hearing. Judge Herin has presided over 19,655 lifetime decisions during his 10-year tenure. His latest approval rate of 64% is evaluated against the Columbia SC office average of 58% and the national average of 58%. 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 Herin Jr.'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 his 10 years on the bench, Judge Herin has seen his approval rates fluctuate, ranging from a low of 47% in 2021 to a recent high of 64% in 2025. This trend indicates that while his decision-making has been relatively steady, recent periods have shown an uptick in favorable outcomes. These variations often reflect changes in the complexity of cases or the quality of evidence presented during specific years.
Preparing for an SSDI hearing
The guidance below applies to any SSDI hearing, not specifically to Judge Herin Jr.'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 Herin Jr.? Free, confidential — see if you qualify for SSDI.
Free Benefits ReviewAbout the Columbia SC hearing office
The Columbia SC Hearing Office serves you and other claimants throughout South Carolina. With a bench of 6 judges, the office manages a high volume of disability claims, maintaining an office-wide latest approval rate of 58%. You can visit the Columbia SC Hearing Office page for the full ALJ roster.
Other judges at this hearing office
The Social Security Administration assigns cases using a workload-balancing algorithm, meaning your assignment to a specific judge is essentially random. Within the Columbia SC office, lifetime approval rates among the bench range from 51% to 61%. Because you cannot choose your judge, focusing on the strength of your medical documentation remains the most effective way to prepare 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.