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01-09-2008, 06:31 PM
Lawyers line up to help with VA claims
Effort designed to clear backlog
By Laura Parker - USA Today
Posted : January 14, 2008
The scene in Washington, D.C., resembled Hollywood’s version of how a multibillion-dollar legal deal might be negotiated — big-name corporate law firm, posh conference room with a table so large 70 attorneys fit easily around it, video technicians hovering nearby, beaming the meeting to other big law firms from Boston to Seattle.
Yet there was no deal to cut. Instead, the high-powered lawyers were getting a tutorial in the arcane vagaries of veterans law.
“This could be the VA’s worst nightmare,” Bart Stichman, one of the organizers, enthused from the podium: “Hundreds of attorneys from around the country providing legal service to veterans for free.”
The recent gathering at Sidley Austin, a firm with 1,700 lawyers worldwide, is part of a growing effort to provide free legal aid to thousands of veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq who are trying to win disability benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs.
“There are 100,000 veterans seeking benefits, and too many of them are waiting too long to get them,” said Ron Abrams, who, with Stichman, directs the National Veterans Legal Services Program, a nonprofit group in Washington spearheading the effort. “These lawyers are going to treat these veterans the way they would treat their corporate clients.”
The approach marks the first time since the Civil War that attorneys have been recruited in large numbers to represent veterans. The lawyers hope their legal expertise will speed consideration of claims and result in better benefits for veterans, Stichman said. More than 50 of the largest law firms in the U.S. and more than 400 attorneys have signed up.
Law schools join cause
Amanda Smith, an attorney with the Philadelphia-based firm Morgan Lewis, said many of the participating lawyers are Vietnam veterans and “are appalled at the circumstances that they find veterans in today.”
Besides the push by big law firms, law schools in states such as the Carolinas, Virginia, Delaware, Michigan and Illinois also are offering free services to veterans.
Craig Kabatchnick, who worked as a VA appellate attorney from 1990 to 1995, launched a clinic last January for veterans at North Carolina Central University’s law school, where he now teaches.
“We had all kinds of veterans who were very disabled, litigating against trained attorneys like myself who were defending the VA,” Kabatchnick said.
The VA would “win” if the claim was denied, he said.
“Did we litigate to win? Absolutely. In cases where the veteran was representing himself, the win ratio was very high.”
Paul Hutter, VA’s general counsel, said the department’s attorneys have “an ethical obligation to fairly and justly” review claims and settle “meritorious cases quickly.”
“Our job is to ensure that veterans get the benefits allowed them by law,” he said.
Disability claims have risen from 578,773 in fiscal 2000 to 838,141 in 2007, according to VA figures. About 407,000 are pending. The average processing time is 177 days, the VA said.
Traditionally, veterans have represented themselves or sought help from a service organization, such as the American Legion or the Veterans of Foreign Wars. But many of the caseworkers in those groups are overloaded, Stichman said, and sometimes one volunteer oversees 1,000 claims.
The approach has not led to quick compensation for veterans. Evidence supporting a veteran’s claim — medical records or letters from colleagues — is not always submitted with the original claim. When that evidence is added later, it can lead to reversals or requests for reconsideration. That can add more than a year to the appeals process, according to VA.
The Board of Veterans Appeals either reverses or orders reconsideration of decisions made by VA regional offices 56 percent of the time, according to an analysis of VA figures by Stichman’s group.
Too confrontational?
Congress has long kept attorneys at arm’s-length from the veterans’ disability process. Until last June, when federal law changed, paid attorneys could not work on cases until after a final decision by the Board of Veterans’ Appeals. VA is now considering requiring all attorneys to pass a test in order to qualify to handle veterans’ claims, VA spokesman Phil Budahn said.
Service organizations, including the Disabled American Veterans and Veterans of Foreign Wars, vigorously fought the change in law. They are now pushing to repeal the law and support requiring a test, arguing that lawyers could turn what is supposed to be a nonadversarial process into a litigious one.
“The fear was lawyers will dominate, and they’ll ruin everything,” said Thomas Reed, a law professor at Widener University in Wilmington, Del., who began offering free legal services to veterans in 1997.
Joe Violante, national legislative director of Disabled American Veterans, which represents 1.3 million veterans, said trained volunteers from the service organizations are far more experienced at representing claims than the newly recruited lawyers.
“If the veteran is under the impression that an attorney is going to get their claim through faster, there’s no proof of that,” he says.
But Ron Flagg, a Sidley attorney involved in the pro bono project, said there are so many claims that the system is overwhelmed.
“Lawyers are not the cure to all ills,” he said. “But this is a problem where lawyers can be helpful.”
the disability Claims process
Veterans' disability requests average 177 days to process, but it can take years if claims are rejected and appealed. The disability claims process at a glance:
1. A veteran applies for disability benefits at one of 57 regional Department of Veterans Affairs offices. At best, this process takes 30 days, but that time can stretch into years if additional documentation is needed to link the disability with a service-related event.
2. If the veteran's claim is rejected, he can formally disagree and ask the regional office to reinvestigate. This process can take 30 days to several years. After VA issues a formal Statement of the Case, a rejected claim can be appealed to the Board of Veterans' Appeals in Washington. This step can take more than a year.
3. If the veteran's claim is rejected by the appeals board, it can be contested further in court. The process in each court, listed in order of escalation, can take six months to several years: U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims; U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit; U.S. Supreme Court.
APPEALS GET SECOND LOOK
More than half of the disability cases decided by the 57 regional offices of the Department of Veterans Affairs are reversed or returned for reconsideration upon appeal. In fiscal 2007, the Board of Veterans' Appeals heard 40,401 cases. Of those, 22,817 — or 56 percent — were overturned or sent back to regional offices. Status of appealed cases at the 10 largest regional VA offices:
City Reversed• Sent back• Total
Atlanta 23% 40% 63%
St. Petersburg, Fla. 26 37 63
Little Rock, Ark. 22 39 61
New York 22 38 60
Nashville, Tenn. 23 37 60
Montgomery, Ala. 20 38 58
Winston-Salem, N.C. 23 34 57
Houston 18 36 54
Waco, Texas 19 33 52
St. Louis 18 33 51
National average 21% 35% 56%
•Claim granted by the Board of Veterans' Appeals after being rejected by the regional office.
•Claim sent back to the regional office for further review.
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Effort designed to clear backlog
By Laura Parker - USA Today
Posted : January 14, 2008
The scene in Washington, D.C., resembled Hollywood’s version of how a multibillion-dollar legal deal might be negotiated — big-name corporate law firm, posh conference room with a table so large 70 attorneys fit easily around it, video technicians hovering nearby, beaming the meeting to other big law firms from Boston to Seattle.
Yet there was no deal to cut. Instead, the high-powered lawyers were getting a tutorial in the arcane vagaries of veterans law.
“This could be the VA’s worst nightmare,” Bart Stichman, one of the organizers, enthused from the podium: “Hundreds of attorneys from around the country providing legal service to veterans for free.”
The recent gathering at Sidley Austin, a firm with 1,700 lawyers worldwide, is part of a growing effort to provide free legal aid to thousands of veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq who are trying to win disability benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs.
“There are 100,000 veterans seeking benefits, and too many of them are waiting too long to get them,” said Ron Abrams, who, with Stichman, directs the National Veterans Legal Services Program, a nonprofit group in Washington spearheading the effort. “These lawyers are going to treat these veterans the way they would treat their corporate clients.”
The approach marks the first time since the Civil War that attorneys have been recruited in large numbers to represent veterans. The lawyers hope their legal expertise will speed consideration of claims and result in better benefits for veterans, Stichman said. More than 50 of the largest law firms in the U.S. and more than 400 attorneys have signed up.
Law schools join cause
Amanda Smith, an attorney with the Philadelphia-based firm Morgan Lewis, said many of the participating lawyers are Vietnam veterans and “are appalled at the circumstances that they find veterans in today.”
Besides the push by big law firms, law schools in states such as the Carolinas, Virginia, Delaware, Michigan and Illinois also are offering free services to veterans.
Craig Kabatchnick, who worked as a VA appellate attorney from 1990 to 1995, launched a clinic last January for veterans at North Carolina Central University’s law school, where he now teaches.
“We had all kinds of veterans who were very disabled, litigating against trained attorneys like myself who were defending the VA,” Kabatchnick said.
The VA would “win” if the claim was denied, he said.
“Did we litigate to win? Absolutely. In cases where the veteran was representing himself, the win ratio was very high.”
Paul Hutter, VA’s general counsel, said the department’s attorneys have “an ethical obligation to fairly and justly” review claims and settle “meritorious cases quickly.”
“Our job is to ensure that veterans get the benefits allowed them by law,” he said.
Disability claims have risen from 578,773 in fiscal 2000 to 838,141 in 2007, according to VA figures. About 407,000 are pending. The average processing time is 177 days, the VA said.
Traditionally, veterans have represented themselves or sought help from a service organization, such as the American Legion or the Veterans of Foreign Wars. But many of the caseworkers in those groups are overloaded, Stichman said, and sometimes one volunteer oversees 1,000 claims.
The approach has not led to quick compensation for veterans. Evidence supporting a veteran’s claim — medical records or letters from colleagues — is not always submitted with the original claim. When that evidence is added later, it can lead to reversals or requests for reconsideration. That can add more than a year to the appeals process, according to VA.
The Board of Veterans Appeals either reverses or orders reconsideration of decisions made by VA regional offices 56 percent of the time, according to an analysis of VA figures by Stichman’s group.
Too confrontational?
Congress has long kept attorneys at arm’s-length from the veterans’ disability process. Until last June, when federal law changed, paid attorneys could not work on cases until after a final decision by the Board of Veterans’ Appeals. VA is now considering requiring all attorneys to pass a test in order to qualify to handle veterans’ claims, VA spokesman Phil Budahn said.
Service organizations, including the Disabled American Veterans and Veterans of Foreign Wars, vigorously fought the change in law. They are now pushing to repeal the law and support requiring a test, arguing that lawyers could turn what is supposed to be a nonadversarial process into a litigious one.
“The fear was lawyers will dominate, and they’ll ruin everything,” said Thomas Reed, a law professor at Widener University in Wilmington, Del., who began offering free legal services to veterans in 1997.
Joe Violante, national legislative director of Disabled American Veterans, which represents 1.3 million veterans, said trained volunteers from the service organizations are far more experienced at representing claims than the newly recruited lawyers.
“If the veteran is under the impression that an attorney is going to get their claim through faster, there’s no proof of that,” he says.
But Ron Flagg, a Sidley attorney involved in the pro bono project, said there are so many claims that the system is overwhelmed.
“Lawyers are not the cure to all ills,” he said. “But this is a problem where lawyers can be helpful.”
the disability Claims process
Veterans' disability requests average 177 days to process, but it can take years if claims are rejected and appealed. The disability claims process at a glance:
1. A veteran applies for disability benefits at one of 57 regional Department of Veterans Affairs offices. At best, this process takes 30 days, but that time can stretch into years if additional documentation is needed to link the disability with a service-related event.
2. If the veteran's claim is rejected, he can formally disagree and ask the regional office to reinvestigate. This process can take 30 days to several years. After VA issues a formal Statement of the Case, a rejected claim can be appealed to the Board of Veterans' Appeals in Washington. This step can take more than a year.
3. If the veteran's claim is rejected by the appeals board, it can be contested further in court. The process in each court, listed in order of escalation, can take six months to several years: U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims; U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit; U.S. Supreme Court.
APPEALS GET SECOND LOOK
More than half of the disability cases decided by the 57 regional offices of the Department of Veterans Affairs are reversed or returned for reconsideration upon appeal. In fiscal 2007, the Board of Veterans' Appeals heard 40,401 cases. Of those, 22,817 — or 56 percent — were overturned or sent back to regional offices. Status of appealed cases at the 10 largest regional VA offices:
City Reversed• Sent back• Total
Atlanta 23% 40% 63%
St. Petersburg, Fla. 26 37 63
Little Rock, Ark. 22 39 61
New York 22 38 60
Nashville, Tenn. 23 37 60
Montgomery, Ala. 20 38 58
Winston-Salem, N.C. 23 34 57
Houston 18 36 54
Waco, Texas 19 33 52
St. Louis 18 33 51
National average 21% 35% 56%
•Claim granted by the Board of Veterans' Appeals after being rejected by the regional office.
•Claim sent back to the regional office for further review.
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