Approval rates
Comparing a judge's lifetime performance to recent trends helps you understand the environment of your upcoming hearing. Judge Pyrtel maintains a 68% lifetime approval rate, which is higher than the 58% national average. In the most recent reporting period, the judge approved 72% of cases, performing 10 percentage points above the state and national benchmarks. Aggregate rates describe past decisions, not predictions for your individual hearing.
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 Pyrtel'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 Pyrtel has presided over 19,045 lifetime decisions. The yearly trend shows a dynamic pattern, with approval rates fluctuating between a low of 60% in 2022 and a high of 76% in 2024. This recent activity suggests a period of increased allowance rates compared to the judge's mid-tenure performance. These shifts often reflect changes in the complexity of cases or the quality of evidence presented in the courtroom.
Preparing for an SSDI hearing
The guidance below applies to any SSDI hearing, not specifically to Judge Pyrtel'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 Pyrtel? Free, confidential — see if you qualify for SSDI.
Free Benefits ReviewAbout the Madison hearing office
The Madison Hearing Office serves you and other claimants across Wisconsin and parts of the surrounding region. This office manages a significant volume of cases with a bench of 6 judges who maintain varying approval patterns. The office-wide latest approval rate currently stands at 69%. You can visit the Madison 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. Within the Madison Hearing Office, lifetime approval rates among the 6 judges range from 49% to 78%. Because you cannot choose your judge, it is important to focus on the strength of your medical evidence. The guidance for your preparation remains consistent regardless of which judge is assigned to your case.
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.