Approval rates
Judge Smith maintains a lifetime approval rate of 61%, which compares favorably to the 58% national average and the 60% office average in Nashville. These figures are derived from a docket of 9,906 lifetime decisions. These statistics offer a helpful baseline but do not guarantee a specific outcome for your 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 Smith Jr.'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 4 years on the bench, Judge Smith has shown a varied decision pattern. After maintaining a 62% approval rate in 2016 and 2017, he reached 67% in 2018 before recording 52% in 2019. This fluctuation is common in high-volume offices and may reflect changes in the complexity of cases or the quality of evidence presented.
Preparing for an SSDI hearing
The guidance below applies to any SSDI hearing, not specifically to Judge Smith Jr.'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 Smith Jr.? Free, confidential — see if you qualify for SSDI.
Free Benefits ReviewAbout the Nashville hearing office
The Nashville Hearing Office serves a large population of claimants across Tennessee, managing a high volume of SSDI cases. With 6 judges on the bench, the office maintains an average approval rate of 60%. You can visit the Nashville Hearing Office page for the full ALJ roster.
Other judges at this hearing office
The Nashville Hearing Office uses a workload-balancing algorithm to assign cases, meaning your assignment to Judge Smith is essentially random. Across the office's bench of 6 judges, lifetime approval rates range from 48% to 73%. The fundamental requirements for proving disability remain consistent 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.