Approval rates
Comparing a judge's performance to broader benchmarks provides context for your upcoming hearing. Judge O'Brien-Persons currently holds a 54% approval rate, which is 4 percentage points below the Reno office average and 2 points below the national average. With a career spanning 15,751 decisions, this judge has a significant track record that helps define the local hearing environment.
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 O'Brien-Persons'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 O'Brien-Persons has seen shifts in approval patterns. After maintaining rates near 70% during the early years of your tenure, the data shows a transition to a lower range starting around 2020. The most recent period shows a slight upward trend, moving from 50% in 2023 to 54% in 2025. This recent activity suggests a stabilization in decision-making that aligns more closely with the judge's long-term career average.
Preparing for an SSDI hearing
The guidance below applies to any SSDI hearing, not specifically to Judge O'Brien-Persons'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 O'Brien-Persons? Free, confidential — see if you qualify for SSDI.
Free Benefits ReviewAbout the Reno hearing office
The Reno Hearing Office serves you across Nevada, managing a high volume of cases to address regional disability needs. With a team of 5 judges, the office maintains an average approval rate of 60%. You can expect a formal environment where the quality of medical documentation remains the primary factor in a successful outcome.
Other judges at this hearing office
The Social Security Administration uses a workload-balancing algorithm to assign cases, meaning your assignment is essentially random. The Reno office features a diverse bench with lifetime approval rates ranging from 27% to 56%. Because every judge interprets evidence differently, understanding the office-wide landscape is helpful for your preparation.
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.