Approval rates
Comparing a judge's approval rate to regional and national benchmarks provides context for your upcoming hearing. Judge Taylor maintains a lifetime approval rate of 73%, which stands higher than the 58% national average and the 60% office average for the most recent reporting period. These statistics are derived from a docket of 29,370 lifetime decisions accumulated over a decade on the bench. Aggregate rates describe past decisions, not predictions for individual hearings.
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 Taylor'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 10-year career, Judge Taylor has demonstrated a consistent approach to disability adjudication. While approval rates fluctuated between 68% and 78% during the middle of your tenure, the most recent data shows an uptick to 81% in 2025. This recent performance reflects a departure from your long-term average, potentially influenced by changes in case complexity or the quality of evidence presented.
Preparing for an SSDI hearing
The guidance below applies to any SSDI hearing, not specifically to Judge Taylor'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 Taylor? Free, confidential — see if you qualify for SSDI.
Free Benefits ReviewAbout the Nashville hearing office
The Nashville Hearing Office serves a broad population across Tennessee, managing a high volume of disability claims. With an office-wide latest approval rate of 60%, the facility operates as a central hub for regional SSDI adjudication. You can expect a formal process focused on medical documentation and vocational testimony. You can see the Nashville Hearing Office page for the full ALJ roster.
Other judges at this hearing office
The Social Security Administration utilizes a workload-balancing algorithm to assign cases, meaning your specific judge is typically assigned at random. Within the Nashville Hearing Office, the office's 6 ALJs range from 48% to 73% in lifetime approval rates. Because of this variance across the bench, understanding the general environment of your hearing office is useful. For preparation purposes, the guidance is the same 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.