Approval rates
When evaluating your hearing, compare Judge Lishner's performance against broader benchmarks. Her 66% lifetime approval rate is supported by 16,884 lifetime decisions. In the latest reporting period, she approved 85% of cases, which is 8 percentage points higher than the national average of 58%. Aggregate rates describe past decisions rather than predicting individual hearing outcomes.
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 Lishner'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 her 10 years on the bench, Judge Lishner has demonstrated a consistent approach to disability adjudication. Her yearly approval trends show a shift in recent years, moving from a range of 58% to 69% between 2016 and 2021 to a higher frequency of approvals in the most recent period. This trend reflects the evolution of her decision-making process over a decade of service.
Preparing for an SSDI hearing
The guidance below applies to any SSDI hearing, not specifically to Judge Lishner'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 Lishner? Free, confidential — see if you qualify for SSDI.
Free Benefits ReviewAbout the Los Angeles West hearing office
The Los Angeles West Hearing Office serves a large population of claimants across Southern California. With a bench of 6 judges, the office manages a high volume of cases to meet regional demand. The office currently maintains an average approval rate of 63%, reflecting the complex nature of the claims processed in this jurisdiction.
Other judges at this hearing office
The Social Security Administration uses a workload-balancing algorithm to assign cases, meaning your assignment to Judge Lishner is essentially random. Within the Los Angeles West Hearing Office, approval rates among the bench vary, ranging from 39% to 66% across the 6 judges. Because case assignment is outside of your control, understanding the general environment of the office is more useful than focusing on any single peer.
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.