Approval rates
When evaluating your hearing prospects, it is helpful to look at how a judge’s history compares to broader benchmarks. Judge Marshall’s lifetime approval rate of 54% provides a baseline for understanding her decision-making over her 5 years on the bench. While her latest reporting period shows an approval rate 13 percentage points higher than the Little Rock Hearing Office average, these figures are only one part of the picture. 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 Marshall'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 tenure, Judge Marshall has presided over 16,565 lifetime decisions, showing a trend that shifted from 60% in 2016 to 50% by 2020. This transition reflects a steadying of her approval patterns after the initial years of her appointment. While the most recent data shows a slight variance from her lifetime average, the overall trajectory remains consistent. These patterns suggest that the judge evaluates evidence based on established Social Security Administration guidelines, with the latest period reflecting a continuation of this stable pattern.
Preparing for an SSDI hearing
The guidance below applies to any SSDI hearing, not specifically to Judge Marshall'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 Marshall? Free, confidential — see if you qualify for SSDI.
Free Benefits ReviewAbout the Little Rock hearing office
The Little Rock Hearing Office serves you throughout Arkansas, managing a high volume of cases with a bench of 6 Administrative Law Judges. The office currently reports an approval rate of 41%, which serves as a local benchmark for your disability hearing. You can expect a formal proceeding where your medical documentation and vocational testimony are prioritized. You can see the Little Rock 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. Across the Little Rock Hearing Office, lifetime approval rates among the 6 judges on the bench range from 27% to 54%. Because case assignment is outside of your control, focusing on the quality of your medical evidence is the most effective way to prepare. 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.