Administrative Law Judges, Adjudicators, and Hearing Officers
Conduct hearings to recommend or make decisions on claims concerning government programs or other government-related matters. Determine liability, sanctions, or penalties, or recommend the acceptance or rejection of claims or settlements.
- US jobs
- 16,370
- Median wage
- $117,860 a year
- Job family
- Legal
Can agents do the work of administrative law judges, adjudicators, and hearing officers?
We read the evidence at the level of the job family, Legal:
- Task levelUnexploredNo task-level benchmark in our collection tests legal work, such as contract review or legal research with tools.
- Project levelPartialOnly adjacent evidence. APEX-Agents includes corporate-law tasks: across banking, consulting, and law, the best agent passes 73.5% on the first try. GDPval includes lawyers among its 44 occupations. Neither benchmark tests work with real clients, courts, or deadlines.
Benchmarks for the job family
These cover work in legal, not always this occupation's tasks.
- 1846 EloClaude Opus 5.5 (Adaptive Reasoning, Max Effort, Default Fallback) · 23 Sep 2026Unrated
Typical tasks
From O*NET 31.0. Core tasks first. Few of these tasks have a benchmark today.
- Monitor and direct the activities of trials and hearings to ensure that they are conducted fairly and that courts administer justice while safeguarding the legal rights of all involved parties.
- Prepare written opinions and decisions.
- Conduct hearings to review and decide claims regarding issues, such as social program eligibility, environmental protection, or enforcement of health and safety regulations.
- Rule on exceptions, motions, and admissibility of evidence.
- Research and analyze laws, regulations, policies, and precedent decisions to prepare for hearings and to determine conclusions.
- Determine existence and amount of liability according to current laws, administrative and judicial precedents, and available evidence.
- Issue subpoenas and administer oaths in preparation for formal hearings.
- Explain to claimants how they can appeal rulings that go against them.
- Schedule hearings.
- Review and evaluate data on documents, such as claim applications, birth or death certificates, or physician or employer records.
- Authorize payment of valid claims and determine method of payment.
- Confer with individuals or organizations involved in cases to obtain relevant information.
Other job titles for this occupation (24)
Adjudications Specialist · Adjudicator · Administrative Hearings Officer · Administrative Judge · Administrative Law Judge · Appeals Examiner · Appeals Referee · Claims Adjudicator · Hearings Officer · Workers' Compensation Hearings Officer · Administrative Hearing Officer · Appeals Officer · Appellate Conferee · Child Support Hearing Officer · Disability Hearing Officer · Disciplinary Hearing Officer · Field Hearing Officer · Hearing Examiner · Hearing Officer · Hearings Examiner · Legal Activity Adjudicator · Medicaid Disability Claims Adjudicator · Parole Hearing Officer · Veteran Appeals Reviewer