Approval rates
The approval rate for Jack Penca stands at 42% across his 13,615 lifetime decisions. Compared to the latest reporting period, his rate is 21 points below the Dover Hearing Office average and 16 points below the national average of 58%. These figures provide a statistical baseline for understanding his historical decision-making.
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 Penca'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 his 8-year tenure, Jack Penca has seen his approval rate fluctuate, moving from 39% in 2016 to a peak of 50% in 2022, before shifting to 41% in 2023. These shifts may reflect changes in case mix or the quality of evidence presented in recent years. The current pattern suggests a stable, long-term approach to evaluating your disability claim.
Preparing for an SSDI hearing
The guidance below applies to any SSDI hearing, not specifically to Judge Penca'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 Penca? See if a free benefits review fits your case.
Free Benefits ReviewAbout the Dover hearing office
The Dover Hearing Office serves you and other claimants throughout Delaware and the surrounding region. It maintains a bench of 6 judges who handle a high volume of SSDI and SSI disability cases. The office currently reports an approval rate of 63%, which provides a local benchmark for your hearing. You can visit the Dover Hearing Office page for the full ALJ roster.
Other judges at this hearing office
The Social Security Administration assigns cases to judges using a workload-balancing algorithm, meaning your assignment is essentially random. Across the Dover bench, lifetime approval rates for the office's 6 ALJs range from 42% to 91%. Because of this variance, the specific judge you draw can influence the context of your hearing.
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.