Approval rates
When evaluating your claim, it is helpful to look at how Maley's approval rate compares to broader benchmarks. Currently, the judge's approval rate is 8 percentage points lower than the Washington (District of Columbia) office average and 5 percentage points below the national average of 58%. These figures are derived from a docket of 6,167 lifetime decisions accumulated over 4 years on the bench. 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 Maley'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 4-year tenure, Maley's approval trend has shown shifts. The data indicates a peak in 2016 at 63%, followed by a decline to 42% in 2018, before a recovery to 49% in 2019. This pattern reflects the volatility in case mix and evidence quality that can influence annual outcomes. These fluctuations are common in the Social Security Administration hearing process and highlight the importance of presenting a well-documented claim.
Preparing for an SSDI hearing
The guidance below applies to any SSDI hearing, not specifically to Judge Maley'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 Maley? Free, confidential — see if you qualify for SSDI.
Free Benefits ReviewAbout the Washington hearing office
The Washington (District of Columbia) Hearing Office serves a diverse population across the region, managing a high volume of disability claims. With a bench of 6 judges, the office maintains an office-wide latest approval rate of 61%. You should be prepared for a formal process where the quality of medical evidence is the primary driver of the outcome. You can visit the Washington (District of Columbia) Hearing Office page for the full ALJ roster.
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 Washington (District of Columbia) office, lifetime approval rates among the bench range from 33% to 53%. Because each judge operates with their own approach to evidence, understanding the office-wide environment is useful. For preparation purposes, the guidance is the same regardless of which judge you are assigned.
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.