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Since December of 2011, the SSA has had a policy of not disclosing the identity of the particular ALJ assigned to conduct a hearing and decide the case. This policy is unfortunate. It is helpful to know who the judge is for a hearing, rather than preparing your case for an unknown ALJ.

For my practice, however, I really do not need to know who the ALJ is ahead of time. I know my local judges, and can adjust accordingly at the hearing.

Nevertheless, it became something of a challenge to prognosticate the assigned ALJ, given the information provided in the hearing notice. So I went to work on the problem.

I have developed an algorithm that predicts the particular ALJ assigned to a hearing from the information contained in the hearing notice. It has proven to be 94% accurate predicting the judges assigned in the Portland hearing office. 

The variables are:

  1. the day of the week of the hearing, 
  2. time of the hearing, 
  3. the hearing room, and 
  4. whether or not a vocational expert (VE) has been assigned.
  5. whether or not a medical expert (ME) has been assigned

All this information is set forth in the notice of hearing.  Continue Reading Predicting the assigned ALJ

The Social Security Administration has released its "waterfall" chart for Fiscal Year 2011, which ended in September, 2011. The chart has been published in the February 2012 Social Security Forum, a newsletter for NOSSCR members.

As predicted, allowances at the ALJ level are down fairly dramatically, with 58% of claims being allowed. In the…

I have been asked to present a workshop at the Spring Conference of the National Organization of Social Security Claimants' Representatives (NOSSCR) in Philadelphia. The conference takes place from May 2-5. My workshop is titled: 

Tips for Writing Effective Hearing Briefs for the ALJ

Here is the workshop description:

Win more cases at the hearing level…

The Social Security Electronic Records Express (ERE) system now allows a claimant representative to access the status of his/her claims pending at the Social Security hearing offices.

Just log into your ERE account. There is now a selection in the list of Appointed Representative Services to "Get Hearing Office Status Report."

The status of your…