Approval rates
Comparing a judge's lifetime performance against recent office and national benchmarks provides a clearer picture of their decision-making history. Judge Kimball has maintained a consistent presence on the bench over his 10-year career, with your latest approval rate of 56% tracking closely with the Minneapolis office average of 54%. These figures are derived from a significant docket of 24,626 lifetime decisions, offering a stable statistical foundation for your review.
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 Kimball'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-year tenure, Judge Kimball has demonstrated a steady approach to disability adjudication. While his approval rate has fluctuated annually—ranging from a low of 45% in 2020 to a high of 62% in 2023—the recent data suggests a return toward his long-term average. The latest period approval rate of 56% indicates that his current decision-making remains consistent with his career-long patterns. This stability helps provide a reliable baseline for understanding how he evaluates evidence in your courtroom.
Preparing for an SSDI hearing
The guidance below applies to any SSDI hearing, not specifically to Judge Kimball'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 Kimball? Free, confidential — see if you qualify for SSDI.
Check My BenefitsAbout the Minneapolis hearing office
The Minneapolis Hearing Office serves you and other claimants across Minnesota and the surrounding region, managing a high volume of disability cases. With a bench of 6 judges, the office maintains an environment where procedural consistency is a priority for all staff. You can expect a standard administrative process focused on the evaluation of your medical and vocational evidence.
Other judges at this hearing office
The Social Security Administration utilizes a workload-balancing algorithm to assign cases, meaning the judge you are assigned is essentially random. Within the Minneapolis office, lifetime approval rates among the bench vary significantly, ranging from 46% to 67%. This variance highlights why it is important to focus on the strength of your medical evidence rather than the specific judge assigned to 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.