The Veterans Law Project: Legal Assistance for Military Families

Veterans Foundation Inc.
Raleigh
11 February 2007

Working with veteran service organizations, commissions and councils, the Veterans Law Project works to create and fund law clinics throughout the country to provide pro bono legal services to pro se veterans.

The Protracted Cost of War
A strong national defense demands more than war-time service and peace time intelligence; it requires the ongoing fulfillment of the debts owed to military families who’ve paid and served. Unfortunately, the short sight of military engagement and administration leaves many survivors lost, struggling and without hope in a burdened veterans care system. The Veterans Foundation finds that civilian groups who actively participate in the lives of veterans have a better understanding of the role that they serve as citizens and how this role so dramatically affects the lives of others. The Veterans Law Project is one such program designed to assist military families with pro bono legal services while educating law students, legislators and the public at large to improve the relationship between the state and federal government, the public and servants to all of the above.

The Problem
Title 38 U.S.C. 3404(c) limits to $10 the fee that may be paid an attorney or agent who represents a veteran seeking benefits from the Veterans' Administration (VA) for service-connected death or disability. “Invalidation of the fee limitation would frustrate Congress' principal goal of wanting the veteran to get the entirety of the benefits award without having to divide it with an attorney. Invalidation would [473 U.S. 305, 306] also complicate a process that Congress wished to be as informal and non-adversarial as possible.”

The VA process has become both formal and adversarial. The Board of Veterans Appeals is staffed entirely by experienced attorneys, and often they deny claims because of legal defects in the processing of the VA claim by the pro se veteran at the rating determination level; defects that could be avoided with competent legal assistance. “An attorney can only receive compensation after the VA has rendered a final Board of Veterans Appeals decision on a veteran’s initial or reopened claim. This fact, coupled with the fee limitation, creates a vast void in legal representation that has resulted in a great need for competent legal assistance to protect the rights of veterans.“

The VA has been consistently under staffed and under financed while veterans are unable to obtain the assistance of legal counsel in the processing of their VA claims, which can be an arduous process for many whom such assistance would be invaluable.

The Solution
Through the development of law clinics nation wide that will educate law students, train other volunteer lawyers to perform this work and create a pool of attorneys who will assist in answering the need for military family legal assistance without placing additional burdens on the VA system. The Veterans Law Project will work with veterans’ service officers, veteran service organizations and the Veterans Administration within each state to become a value added support system working for our veteran community. The VLP will acquire advisory committees from the established from these groups and organizations to oversee their state clinics and ensure a complementary procedure of working together. The beginning of this cohesive structure is found in North Carolina at the North Carolina Central University School of Law Veterans Clinic which is overseen by the North Carolina Veterans Council: A body of nine veterans’ service organizations operating within the state.

The First Pilot: North Carolina Central School of Law
The Veterans Law Project was inspired by an attorney Craig Kabatchnick . Craig’s career is highlighted this development of a comprehensive legal solution for military families. “From 1990-1995 as former Senior Appellate Attorney, Association Special Assistant and Appellate Attorney in the Office of the VA General Counsel, he represented the Department of Veterans Affairs before the United States Court of Veterans Appeals in more than 250 cases of medical/legal nature.” Craig has decades in veteran’s legal experience and provides oversight as the adjunct Supervising Attorney for the Veteran’s Law Clinic at North Carolina Central University School of Law, the first installment for the Veterans Law Project. There are law clinics everywhere, but few if any actively specializing in veteran’s law. This concept, these clinics will become if not

Supporting Groups and Organizations
The Veterans Law Project is gaining support throughout the nation from veteran’s service organizations including, but not limited to Veterans of Foreign Wars Departments, veteran’s councils, commissions and universities in Delaware, Missouri, Virginia and North Carolina with more exploring the possibilities daily. The project is a viable, practical and non-adversarial way to provide legal services within the confines of state and federal law. Providing education benefiting state communities and the nation as a whole, thel Veterans Law Project is an example of how necessity is met with sense. Join our list of supporters.

Project Plans 2007-2008

The Veterans Law Project has identified the following goals for 2007-2008:

• Engage New Clinics in every US state and region
• Complete construction of the Veterans Law Network online.
• Secure funding for a 5 year clinical operation
• Create a trust for the Veterans Law Project and Advisory board for oversight of clinic operations and funding.
• Conduct research, preliminary studies on met & unmet claims, saturation rates for clinics within particular veteran populations and efficiency.

The Veterans Law Network
The Network will link together all veteran’s law clinics and relative support structures. The Network will provide online screening for prospective claims, Web journals for students, tools for staff administration, free online services to veterans and legal referrals. The Network will later include live support/counsel and broadcast media for training, reference, counsel and possibly assist in adjudication. The Network will serve as a blue print for what the physical network. The Veterans Law Network will grow along with the Project in tools, services and membership, creating a virtual community for those who may not be within close proximity of an active clinic.

Engage New Clinics
The idea for a veteran’s law clinic is inviting not only vets, but to universities as well. Already attending attorneys at various law schools are seeking support and information for starting and funding their own clinics to serve their local veteran communities and enrollees. Clinics in Virginia, Missouri and Delaware will be focused on due to established clinical models, supporting relationships, and funding requirements (some schools may already be funded.) The ability to create as many clinics as efficiently (and timely) as possible to meet the ongoing demand for legal services will naturally; assist more veterans in need, educate the legislature and the public on the protracted cost of war with anticipation for the future costs .

Secure Funding
The Veterans Law Project is planning to develop internal revenue streams to support clinics and services. Funding is dependent upon the number of clinics in operation and shall be scaled accordingly. Operating costs for five clinics are estimated at 1.5 million dollars per year, 7.5 over five years. Initial costs are lower in some states, higher in others. The Veterans Foundation is seeking support from various industries to support the clinic and reduce these costs including equipment and hardware contributions and network support.

Veterans Law Trust
Healthy capital management is key for ongoing growth and success. The Trust will serve the project in a variety of ways, most obviously, as a pool for capital resources to benefit participants.

Research
One of our greatest concerns is the efficiency factor. The Veterans Law Project is created to minimize waste, expense and unnecessary effort for those in need of service, assistance and education. Close study of the clinics within certain populations over a specified period of time will help in measuring and managing a purposeful direction for our veteraned military community.

Conclusion
A Solution. For many, it is hard to come by both in peace and war. A just settlement of a veteran plea is essential to maintaining a strong national defense and morale. One service member touches the lives of family members, neighbors and future defenders of our constitution. It is ironic that veterans defending these laws become victims of the system built to receive them. It is proper to freely offer legal support to those who gave of their lives to defend ours. By honoring the debt owed to those who gave their livelihood for our country and what they stand for, we inspire the next generation to do the same.