Approval rates
Evaluating your hearing prospects requires looking at the broader data. Judge Zamora has issued 8,117 lifetime decisions, providing a significant sample size to observe their approach. While the Phoenix Hearing Office maintains an average approval rate of 56%, Judge Zamora's recent data shows a variance of -7 points compared to office peers and -9 points against the national average. These figures reflect historical trends rather than specific outcomes for your case.
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 Zamora'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 4-year tenure, Judge Zamora's approval rate has shown a shift in trend. After maintaining an approval rate near 50% between 2016 and 2018, the most recent reporting period saw a decline to 35%. This change may reflect variations in the complexity of cases or the quality of evidence presented during those specific years. Understanding these trends helps you focus on the medical evidence most critical to your claim.
Preparing for an SSDI hearing
The guidance below applies to any SSDI hearing, not specifically to Judge Zamora'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.
Other judges at this hearing office
The Social Security Administration utilizes a workload-balancing algorithm to assign cases, meaning your judge is selected randomly. Within the Phoenix Hearing Office, lifetime approval rates among the 6 judges range from 36% to 78%. Because this variance exists, it is important to focus on the strength of your medical documentation regardless of who presides over your hearing. You can find more information on the office's general operations on the Phoenix 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.