Approval rates
Comparing a judge's lifetime approval rate to recent office and national benchmarks provides context for your hearing. Judge Schmitz maintains a lifetime approval rate of 47% across 22,667 lifetime decisions. In the latest reporting period, his approval rate was 48%, which is 11 percentage points below the national average of 58%. These figures reflect historical trends rather than the specific merits of your claim.
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 Schmitz'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 10 years on the bench, Judge Schmitz has presided over 22,667 lifetime decisions. His yearly approval trends have fluctuated, showing a low of 41% in 2018 and a rate of 50% in 2025. The latest period reflects a continuation of this pattern, with the judge maintaining a consistent approach to case evaluation. These trends suggest that while your case outcome depends on your specific evidence, the judge's overall decision-making remains stable over his tenure.
Preparing for an SSDI hearing
The guidance below applies to any SSDI hearing, not specifically to Judge Schmitz'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 Schmitz? Free, confidential — see if you qualify for SSDI.
Free Benefits ReviewAbout the Akron OH hearing office
The Akron OH Hearing Office serves you across the region, managing a high volume of disability appeals. With 6 judges on the bench, the office maintains a latest approval rate of 55%. You can expect a formal hearing process where the quality of your evidence is the primary driver of the final decision.
Other judges at this hearing office
The Social Security Administration assigns cases using a workload-balancing algorithm, meaning the judge you are assigned is essentially random. Approval rates across the Akron OH bench range from 44% to 60%, reflecting the diversity of judicial approaches within this office. Regardless of which judge is assigned to your hearing, the fundamental requirements for proving disability remain the same.
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.