Approval rates
When evaluating your hearing prospects, it is helpful to look at how Judge Pianin compares to broader benchmarks. Currently, the judge's approval rate sits 3 percentage points below the Norfolk office average and 10 points below the national average of 58%. These figures are derived from a significant docket of 9,194 lifetime decisions, providing a stable view of past performance. 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 Pianin'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 4-year tenure, the approval rate for Judge Pianin has shown notable variation. After starting with a 49% approval rate in 2016 and reaching 52% in 2017, the rate shifted to 47% in 2018 before a decline in the most recent reporting period. This pattern suggests that the judge's decision-making has been sensitive to changes in case volume or the specific evidence presented in recent years. Understanding these fluctuations is a key part of preparing for your day in court.
Preparing for an SSDI hearing
The guidance below applies to any SSDI hearing, not specifically to Judge Pianin'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 Pianin? Free, confidential — see if you qualify for SSDI.
Free Benefits ReviewAbout the Norfolk hearing office
The Norfolk Hearing Office serves you throughout the region, managing a high volume of disability appeals. With a bench of 6 judges and an office-wide latest approval rate of 51%, the office handles a diverse range of medical and vocational claims. You can expect a formal process focused on the objective evidence in your file. You can see the Norfolk 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 your assignment to a specific judge is essentially random. At the Norfolk Hearing Office, the bench consists of 6 judges with lifetime approval rates ranging from 48% to 55%. While you may be concerned about which judge you draw, the standards for proving disability remain consistent across the office. 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.