Approval rates
Comparing a judge's approval rate to regional and national benchmarks helps you understand the environment of your upcoming hearing. While Judge Hlaudy maintains a lifetime approval rate of 58%, his latest reporting period shows a 66% approval rate, which is 4 points below the Fargo office average of 62%. These figures are derived from a docket of 20,092 lifetime decisions. 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 Hlaudy'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 Hlaudy has demonstrated a consistent decision-making pattern. His approval rates fluctuated between 50% and 61% from 2018 through 2024, with a recent rate of 66% in the latest reporting period. This trend reflects his long-term average while showing recent activity in his courtroom.
Preparing for an SSDI hearing
The guidance below applies to any SSDI hearing, not specifically to Judge Hlaudy'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 Hlaudy? Free, confidential — see if you qualify for SSDI.
Free Benefits ReviewAbout the Fargo hearing office
The Fargo Hearing Office serves claimants across North Dakota and surrounding regions. With a bench of 6 judges, this office manages a high volume of cases, maintaining an office-wide latest approval rate of 62%. You can visit the Fargo Hearing Office page for the full ALJ roster.
Other judges at this hearing office
The Social Security Administration uses a workload-balancing algorithm to assign cases, meaning your assignment to a specific judge is essentially random. Across the Fargo bench, lifetime approval rates for the 6 judges range from 46% to 64%. Regardless of which judge is assigned to your hearing, the fundamental requirements for proving your disability remain the same.
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.