Approval rates
Comparing a judge's lifetime approval rate to recent office and national benchmarks provides perspective on your hearing environment. Judge Mashburn maintains a 64% lifetime approval rate across 18,455 decisions. In the most recent reporting period, the judge recorded a 72% approval rate, which is 6% higher than the national average of 58%. These rates reflect past decisions rather than predictions for your specific 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 Mashburn'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 decade on the bench, Judge Mashburn has presided over 18,455 lifetime decisions. The yearly trend shows a period of stability followed by a rise in approval rates starting in 2023, where the rate reached 73%. This recent performance is a shift from the 60% rate observed in 2022. These fluctuations often reflect changes in the complexity of cases or the quality of evidence presented.
Preparing for an SSDI hearing
The guidance below applies to any SSDI hearing, not specifically to Judge Mashburn'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 Mashburn? Free, confidential — see if you qualify for SSDI.
Free Benefits ReviewAbout the Tupelo hearing office
The Tupelo Hearing Office serves you and other claimants across Mississippi. It is staffed by six judges who manage a high volume of disability claims. The office currently maintains an approval rate of 67%, which provides a baseline for your local hearing environment. You can see the Tupelo Hearing Office page for the full ALJ roster.
Other judges at this hearing office
The Social Security Administration assigns cases using a workload-balancing algorithm, meaning the judge you are assigned is essentially random. Approval rates across the Tupelo bench vary significantly, ranging from 19% to 64% among the six judges currently serving. Because of this variance, understanding the broader office environment is as important as looking at a single judge's history. You can find more information on the Tupelo Hearing Office page.
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.