Veterans Law in the District of Columbia
Our Group arrived in Washington D.C. on Saturday and quickly realized that we were in for a challenge. Upon entering our hotel room we discovered that the electricity didn’t work. The hotel kindly fixed this problem, but it it went out an additional four times. The problem was finally solved when we discovered that if we breathed very softly and only talked in muted tones that the hotel’s delicate electric system would hold out, thus allowing us to do important law school stuff, such as updating this blog. Yet, all joking aside, it does look like this will be a challenging and productive trip.
The purpose of the D.C. alternative spring break is to help veterans advance their claims for benefits in a complicated and sometimes confusing system. We are working for the National Veteran Legal Services Program or NVLSP, who actively represents veterans before the Board of Veteran’s Appeals (an administrative division of Department of Veteran Affairs) and the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veteran’s Claims (an Article I Court charged with reviewing decisions of the Board). Pro-bono work is important in this field because very little money is involved, while the process and regulations are often difficult for some veterans to handle on their own. As a result lawyers are needed, but often unavailable.
Today we began our work and there are several projects that need to be handled this week. First we are summarizing decisions of the Veterans Court and creating power point presentations that will be used to help train veteran advocates. The advocates are usually veterans who help shepherd other veterans through the appeals process. Next, there is a project involving the assembly and organization of claims files for upcoming cases. Finally, there is a research project looking into how much access veterans have to health care and what their legal remedies are. It looks like there is quite a bit of work to be done, but the NVLSP seems happy to have us and we’re looking forward to serving those who have served us all.
