Approval rates
Comparing a judge's performance to office and national benchmarks provides context for your upcoming hearing. Judge Jecklin’s lifetime approval rate of 31% is measured against the St Louis office’s latest approval rate of 54% and the national average of 58%. These figures are derived from a docket of 12,363 lifetime decisions. 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 Jecklin'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 9 years on the bench, Judge Jecklin has presided over 12,363 decisions. Her approval rate has remained steady, generally hovering between 27% and 33% for much of her tenure, with a recent rate of 37% in 2025. This consistency suggests a predictable approach to case evaluation. The latest period reflects a continuation of this steady pattern, indicating that her evidentiary standards have remained consistent throughout her career.
Preparing for an SSDI hearing
The guidance below applies to any SSDI hearing, not specifically to Judge Jecklin'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 Jecklin? Free, confidential — see if you qualify for SSDI.
Free Benefits ReviewAbout the St Louis hearing office
The St Louis Hearing Office serves you and other claimants across Missouri, managing a high volume of disability cases. With a bench of 6 judges, the office maintains a latest approval rate of 54%. You can expect a professional environment where evidence quality is the primary driver of outcomes. You can visit the St Louis 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 St Louis Hearing Office, lifetime approval rates among the 6 judges range from 31% to 70%. Understanding the landscape of your local office is a standard part of case preparation. You can find more information on the St Louis 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.