California.

Roughly 189,216 new disability claims are filed in California each year. At a 20% retention rate and a conservative $6,900 fee per retained case, the addressable fee pool is approximately $261M annually.

Annual DDS intake

189,216

Initial claims / year

DDS approval

39.0%

Nat'l: 39.8%

Avg office wait

317 days

Nat'l hearing: 365 days

Fee pool (est.)

$261M

Annualized · retention × cap

01 · Bench

Top 5 ALJs by approval rate.

Judges currently on the bench in California hearing offices, sorted by favorable decision rate. Use these to prioritize which office a case is assigned to, where permissible.

ALJ	Office	Approval	Decisions
Masterson, Aubri	SANTA BARBARA	88.3%	222
Lishner, Elizabeth R	LOS ANGELES WEST	84.6%	149
Engel, David W	TULSA OHO	84.0%	200
Mastin, Jeffrey	NHC BALTIMORE	81.6%	38
Lenzini, Robert	ORANGE	80.9%	324

02 · Offices

Hearing-office timing.

Fastest

SAN BERNARDINO272 days
NORWALK278 days
PASADENA279 days

Slowest

FRESNO412 days
SANTA BARBARA387 days
SAN DIEGO380 days

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Methodology · Figures reflect SSA public data through the latest release. Fee pool estimates annualize DDS intake at a conservative 20% retention rate with a 75% cap hit on retained backpay — not a performance guarantee. Approval rates describe historical decisions, not likelihoods on individual cases.