Approval rates
Comparing a judge's performance to broader benchmarks provides context for your upcoming hearing. Judge Resnick maintains a lifetime approval rate of 53%, which tracks 4 percentage points below the Providence Hearing Office average and 5 points below the national average. These figures are derived from a docket of 7,048 lifetime decisions. 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 Resnick'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 3 years on the bench, Judge Resnick has seen fluctuations in his approval trends. He reached an approval rate of 51% in 2016, 57% in 2017, and 39% in 2018. These patterns provide insight into the judge's history, though every case is unique and decided on its own merits.
Preparing for an SSDI hearing
The guidance below applies to any SSDI hearing, not specifically to Judge Resnick'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 Resnick? Free, confidential — see if you qualify for SSDI.
Free Benefits ReviewAbout the Providence hearing office
The Providence Hearing Office serves the state of Rhode Island and surrounding areas. With a bench of 6 judges, the office maintains an environment where you present your case before an ALJ. The office-wide latest approval rate of 57% reflects regional trends in disability adjudication.
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 Providence Hearing Office, lifetime approval rates among the bench range from 43% to 74%. This diversity highlights why focusing on the strength of your own medical evidence is the most effective strategy.
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.