HALLEX
Hearings, Appeals, Litigation, and Law

What is Hallex?
How is Hallex organized?
Author’s Comments

 What Is HALLEX?

HALLEX is the abbreviation for Hearings, Appeals, Litigation, and Law (LEX) Manual. It contains instructions for administrative law judges (ALJs), the Appeals Council, and the Office of Civil Actions. Such instructions are largely procedural in nature and include such concerns as:

• How to make decisions at each stage; 
• What decisions need to be made under various circumstances; 
• Steps to follow before making decisions; and 
• Language to use in articulating decisions with examples for their use. 

 Some substantive material is also found in the HALLEX, such as:

• Discussion of concepts such as res judicata and collateral estoppel; 
• When and how to use a medical adviser or a vocational expert; and 
• How to determine good cause under various circumstances. 

Additionally, the HALLEX contains information regarding the types of computer systems in which data are stored and from which data may be retrieved, as well as reference to hard-copy file sources at each level of adjudication.

How Is HALLEX Organized?

A printed copy of the HALLEX is about the size of War and Peace. It comprises two volumes. 

Volume One contains five principal divisions: 1) General subjects; 2) ALJ hearings; 3) Appeals Council review; 4) Civil actions; and 5) Temporary instructions.

Volume Two contains six principal divisions: one, Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) Circuit Court Case Reporter; and two through six, systems-related information.

Each division and section of the HALLEX is numbered starting with a roman numeral that identifies the volume in which the division and section are found. Following the Roman numeral is a single digit that is followed by three digits. Thus, for example, a typical entry would be as follows: 1-2-000 (e.g., volume I, division 2, section 000).

Finding the HALLEX
Every OHA office must maintain a complete set of HALLEX for public inspection. Additionally, HALLEX may be obtained through a Freedom of Information request.  HALLEX selections are also available online 

HALLEX may also be purchased through the National Technical Information Service, 5285 Port Royal Road, Springfield, VA 22161. Fax: 703 321-8547.  It is published on diskette and in printed form. A subscription to updates is also available.

Authors Comments

These materials contain a broad outline of the contents of HALLEX to give the reader a general idea of what can be found in it and where certain topics are located. It does not purport to identify all topics that HALLEX covers, or to outline any topic completely. Some topics are dealt with in greater detail than others. The selection of which topics have received the most coverage is, in the end, a totally arbitrary decision made by the writer, based on some obscure sense of what might be most interesting, useful or problematic to the practitioner. For complete information, reference should always be made directly to the HALLEX. The writer’s editorial comments on the content of HALLEX appear in the footnotes.

Last date of legal review September 2001 (MLAN/AC/DD)

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