Approval rates
Comparing a judge's performance requires looking at both their long-term history and recent trends. Judge Zack maintains a lifetime approval rate of 56% across 12,038 decisions. When measured against the latest reporting period, his approval rate sits 10 points above the Wilkes Barre office average and 1 point above the state average, though it remains 2 points below the national average. 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 Zack'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 8 years on the bench, Judge Zack has seen his approval rate fluctuate. While the yearly trend shows peaks near 60% in 2018 and 68% in 2022, the most recent reporting period saw a shift to 40%. These variations often reflect changes in the complexity of cases or the specific medical evidence presented during a given year. The latest period represents a departure from his long-term average, suggesting that case-specific preparation remains the most critical factor in your hearing outcome.
Preparing for an SSDI hearing
The guidance below applies to any SSDI hearing, not specifically to Judge Zack'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 scheduled?
About the Wilkes Barre hearing office
The Wilkes Barre Hearing Office serves a broad population across Pennsylvania, managing a high volume of disability claims. With a bench of 6 judges, the office operates under the standard Office of Hearings Operations guidelines to process cases efficiently. The office currently reports an approval rate of 46%, which serves as a baseline for the region. You can see the Wilkes Barre Hearing Office page for the full ALJ roster.
Other judges at this hearing office
The Social Security Administration assigns cases through a workload-balancing algorithm, meaning your assignment to a specific judge is essentially random. Within the Wilkes Barre office, lifetime approval rates among the 6 judges range from 29% to 59%. This variance highlights why understanding the general environment of your hearing office is useful, even if you cannot choose your judge. You can find more information on the Wilkes Barre Hearing Office page.
Your odds change dramatically with a lawyer
Source: U.S. Government Accountability Office, GAO-18-37. The 3× gap is a population-wide average across all judges; individual outcomes vary.