Alabama.

Roughly 39,959 new disability claims are filed in Alabama each year. At a 20% retention rate and a conservative $6,900 fee per retained case, the addressable fee pool is approximately $55M annually.

Annual DDS intake

39,959

Initial claims / year

DDS approval

35.4%

Nat'l: 39.8%

Avg office wait

247 days

Nat'l hearing: 365 days

Fee pool (est.)

$55M

Annualized · retention × cap

01 · Bench

Top 5 ALJs by approval rate.

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

ALJ	Office	Approval	Decisions
Stalley, D Burgess	MOBILE	92.1%	126
Strong, C. Rene	MONTGOMERY	91.6%	239
Sheely, Ben E	MOBILE	87.0%	293
Nelson, Roger A	MOBILE	85.0%	247
Intoccia, Vincent	MONTGOMERY	83.8%	345

02 · Offices

Hearing-office timing.

Fastest

MONTGOMERY239 days
BIRMINGHAM247 days
MOBILE256 days

Slowest

MOBILE256 days
BIRMINGHAM247 days
MONTGOMERY239 days

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.