Approval rates
Understanding how a judge compares to their peers and the national average provides helpful context for your upcoming hearing. Judge Mance has presided over 14,635 lifetime decisions during his 7 years on the bench. While his latest approval rate is 16 percentage points below the national average, it remains closely aligned with the broader activity at the Topeka KS office. Aggregate rates describe past decisions, not predictions for individual hearings.
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 Mance'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 7-year tenure, Judge Mance has demonstrated a consistent decision pattern with an overall approval rate of 42%. His yearly trend shows stability, with annual approval rates fluctuating between 39% and 44% since 2016. The most recent reporting period indicates a slight uptick in approvals, suggesting that his approach remains steady even as case volumes evolve. This consistency allows for a clearer understanding of the evidentiary standards typically applied in his courtroom.
Preparing for an SSDI hearing
The guidance below applies to any SSDI hearing, not specifically to Judge Mance'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 Mance? See if a free benefits review fits your case.
Free Benefits ReviewAbout the Topeka KS hearing office
The Topeka KS Hearing Office serves a broad population across Kansas, managing a high volume of disability claims through its team of 6 administrative law judges. The office maintains an average approval rate of 43%, reflecting the regional trends in case outcomes. You can visit the Topeka KS 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 your assignment to a specific judge is essentially random. Within the Topeka KS Hearing Office, lifetime approval rates among the bench range from 24% to 60%. Because each judge operates with their own judicial style, the variance across the office is a standard feature of the hearings process.
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.