Approval rates
Comparing a judge's performance requires looking at both their long-term history and recent trends. Judge Smilie has served on the bench for 10 years, providing a dataset of 18,454 lifetime decisions. While her lifetime rate is 40%, recent data shows a shift in approval patterns compared to the broader Alexandria Hearing Office and national averages. 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 Smilie'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 her 10-year tenure, Judge Smilie's approval rate has shown an upward shift. After maintaining an approval range between 33% and 39% for much of her career, the data indicates an increase in approvals starting in 2024 and continuing through 2025. This recent trend suggests a departure from her earlier decision patterns. These fluctuations often reflect changes in the types of cases assigned or evolving standards for evidence evaluation.
Preparing for an SSDI hearing
The guidance below applies to any SSDI hearing, not specifically to Judge Smilie'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 Smilie? See if a free benefits review fits your case.
Free Benefits ReviewAbout the Alexandria hearing office
The Alexandria Hearing Office serves you throughout Northern Virginia and the surrounding region. With a bench of 6 judges, this office manages a high volume of disability claims. You can expect a formal administrative process focused on the specific medical and vocational evidence presented in your file. You can see the Alexandria 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 Alexandria Hearing Office, lifetime approval rates among the bench vary, ranging from 32% to 66%. This variance highlights why understanding the general environment of your local office is important. You can find more information on the Alexandria Hearing Office page.
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.