Approval rates
Judge Mendola has issued 17,506 lifetime decisions over a 9-year career. In the most recent reporting period, the judge recorded a 47% approval rate, which is 9 percentage points below the Dallas Downtown office average of 60%. These figures provide a statistical look at past performance, but they do not guarantee a specific outcome for your case. 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 Mendola'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 the past 9 years, your judge's approval rate has fluctuated, showing a peak of 58% in 2022 followed by a 48% rate in 2025. This pattern suggests a stable approach to case evaluation, even as annual approval percentages have shifted between 43% and 58% during the judge's tenure. The latest period reflects a continuation of this steady pattern. These trends indicate that the judge's decision-making remains consistent with their long-term average despite year-to-year variations in case volume.
Preparing for an SSDI hearing
The guidance below applies to any SSDI hearing, not specifically to Judge Mendola'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 Mendola? Free, confidential — see if you qualify for SSDI.
Free Benefits ReviewAbout the Dallas Downtown hearing office
The Dallas Downtown Hearing Office serves you and other claimants across the Texas region, managing a high volume of disability cases. With a bench of 6 judges, the office maintains an office-wide approval rate that often trends higher than the national average. You should be prepared for a thorough review of your medical documentation and work history. You can see the Dallas Downtown Hearing Office page for the full ALJ roster.
Other judges at this hearing office
The Social Security Administration uses a workload-balancing algorithm to assign cases, meaning the judge you are assigned is essentially random. Across the Dallas Downtown office, lifetime approval rates among the 6 ALJs range from 49% to 69%. Because you cannot choose your judge, it is important to focus on the strength of your own medical evidence. 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.