Tis Baltimore blog illustrates the vast disparity among judges. Even within hearing offices, judges vary in the opinions they bring to their decisions. It makes it even more important to have a good representative, a lawyer who knows the ropes and the personalities of a local office can make a big difference.
…”In San Antonio, Texas, people hoping to get Social Security disability payments could see their cases assigned to any of 17 judges. The luck of this draw matters a lot. One of the judges grants benefits in just 14 percent of cases. Another judge hands over benefits—which range from about $700 per month to about twice that—92 percent of the time.
“That 78 percent disparity rate makes San Antonio the second most lottery-like system in the Social Security Administration’s archipelago of hearing offices, according to a data analysis by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a non-profit research organization housed at Syracuse University. (Dallas is number one, with 83 percent disparity).”
See full story here: