Return to Videos The question of how long an administrative law judge has to set a hearing date is a tricky one to ask and a tricky one to answer. The law requires him to set the date within a year. What that means is that he can sit on the paperwork and then set the date, and the date might be six months out. The answer is a year, but they usually try to set this as quickly as they can, as quickly as possible. But once again, each jurisdiction differs, so you may end up waiting between 300 and 560, and as many as 700 days to get your hearing heard. But the judge has to set it within a year, but it doesn't have to be heard within a year.