Approval rates
Comparing a judge's performance requires looking at both long-term history and recent trends. Judge Pasvantis has issued 20,569 decisions over a 10-year tenure. Their latest approval rate of 53% is 2 percentage points above the current Ft Lauderdale office average, though it remains lower than the national benchmark. These figures reflect historical trends rather than a guarantee of your outcome.
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 Pasvantis'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 decade, your approval rate has shown notable fluctuations, ranging from a low of 42% in 2021 to 54% in 2025. This 10-year trajectory reflects a pattern of adjudication that has seen a recovery in approval frequency since the 2021 period. The most recent data indicates that the judge is currently approving cases at a rate slightly higher than their lifetime average.
Preparing for an SSDI hearing
The guidance below applies to any SSDI hearing, not specifically to Judge Pasvantis'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 Pasvantis? Free, confidential — see if you qualify for SSDI.
Free Benefits ReviewAbout the Ft Lauderdale hearing office
The Ft Lauderdale Hearing Office serves a large population in Florida, managing a high volume of disability claims. The office currently operates with a bench of 6 judges who handle a diverse array of medical and vocational evidence. With an office-wide latest approval rate of 48%, you may face a rigorous evidentiary standard. You can see the Ft Lauderdale 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 Ft Lauderdale office, lifetime approval rates among the bench vary significantly, ranging from 36% to 68%. Because of this variance, understanding the office-wide environment is as important as reviewing an individual judge's history.
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.