Hon. Brian W. Lemoine

SSA publishes no office- or national-level breakdown of fully favorable and denial rates. The 12 months are SSA's figures for this fiscal year to date plus the rest of the previous fiscal year; how we calculate them.

Year-over-year approval rate across Judge Lemoine's docket. Annual rates fluctuate with the mix of cases SSA assigns; the longer-run pattern is more informative than any single year.

The guidance below applies to any SSDI hearing, not specifically to Judge Lemoine'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.

• 55% Approval rate Alger 3,310 decisions
• 27% Approval rate Aletta 2,187 decisions
• 33% Approval rate McKenna 1,716 decisions

These active judges' approval rates over the same 12 months (July 26, 2025 – July 31, 2026) are closest to Judge Lemoine's 78%. No other judge in Connecticut is within 5 points, so these come from SSA's Boston region and other regions.

• 82% Approval rate, last 12 months Robert W. Flynn Portland, ME, ME 419 decisions · 4 points above Judge Lemoine
• 73% Approval rate, last 12 months Jonathan P. Baird Lawrence, MA 300 decisions · 5 points below Judge Lemoine
• 78% Approval rate, last 12 months Kevin R. Barnes Dayton, OH 465 decisions · the same as Judge Lemoine
• 78% Approval rate, last 12 months Kimberly Varillo South Jersey, NJ 457 decisions · the same as Judge Lemoine
• 78% Approval rate, last 12 months Peter Jamison Charlotte, NC 432 decisions · the same as Judge Lemoine

Rates within 5 points of each other are hard to tell apart at a typical caseload, so treat these as judges with comparable records, not a ranking. See Judge Lemoine and the three closest side by side →