The Veterans Consortium Pro Bono Program
Providing Representation to Veterans at the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims

Mary Ann Gilleece, Esq., Chairmain

Mary Ann Gilleece is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Holland & Knight LLP. Ms. Gilleece provides advice to domestic and foreign corporations on a wide spectrum of issues related to legislative, government contract and business matters. Ms. Gilleece is knowledgeable about the laws, regulations and internal government procedures concerning the government acquisition process. This knowledge, coupled with her experience in senior positions in the executive and legislative branches of government, enable her to assist clients in grappling with and successfully resolving complex business, legal, legislative and regulatory problems. Her approach is to negotiate a resolution to a company’s problem whether the issue is with the government or another contractor. She assists the company in developing a strategy that focuses on resolution and then guides the implementation of that strategy. More on Ms. Gilleece at http://www.hklaw.com/id77/biosMAGILLEE/.

Gary Butter, Esq., Vice Chairman

Gary Butter is a partner in the New York office of Baker Botts, LLP.  Mr. Butter focuses primarily on high-tech patent litigation. He also has significant experience in intellectual property due diligence and counseling, intellectual property licensing, patent preparation and prosecution and many other areas associated with a broad intellectual property practice.

Mr. Butter counsels both high-tech companies and individual inventors on all aspects of intellectual property protection, procurement, licensing, enforcement, risk analysis, and dispute resolution, and helps clients develop robust intellectual property protection programs. Although adept in many fields, his focus is primarily on legal matters that relate to computing, software, telecommunications, and mechanical technologies. In addition to his law practice, Mr. Butter is an assistant adjunct professor of patent law at Brooklyn Law School. More on Mr. Butter at http://www.bakerbotts.com/gary-m-butter/.

Roy E. Spicer, Director

Roy E. Spicer supervises the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) National Appeals Office located in Washington, DC. He provides principle supervision and managerial over-site for 14 DAV National Appeals Officers and support staff engaged in the free professional representation of appellants before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals.

Roy is a native of Clarksville, Tennessee. He entered the military service in March of 1968. He served in Vietnam with the United States Army as leader of a Recon Team until serious combat wounds led to disability retirement. He is the recipient of the Combat Infantryman Badge, two Purple Heart Medals, the Bronze Star with “V” device, the Army Commendation Medal with “V” device, the Air Medal, the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with Silver Star, the Parachutist Badge and two Presidential Unit Citations.

Following military disability retirement, Roy entered the DAV National Service Program in January of 1971. He trained in the Louisville, Kentucky National Service Office, while studying at the University of Louisville. He was assigned as an Associate National Service Office at the Veterans Benefit Office in Washington, DC in May 1972. He was promoted to Assistant Supervisor of the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania National Service Office in May 1973 and later Promoted to Supervisor of the Roanoke, Virginia National Service Office in November 1975. In September of 1992, he accepted the Supervisor position at the St. Petersburg, Florida DAV National Service Officer. In December of 1994, Roy accepted an appointment as Executive Assistant to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs and relocated to Washington, DC. He served in that capacity until August 1997. In September 1997, Roy returned to DAV at its National Appeals Office, which he now supervises.

Roy is admitted to the Bar of the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims as a non-attorney practitioner. His accomplishments have been recognized by DAV at the Chapter, Department and National Levels. Additionally, he has received honors from local, state and federal governments.

William S. Mailander, Esq., Director

William Mailander, Esq., is general counsel for the Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA), one of the top 400 charities as ranked by the Chronicle of Philanthropy. In this capacity he serves as the chief legal officer of the corporation and its subsidiaries, is responsible for all aspects of PVA’s legal affairs, and is a member of PVA’s senior management team. Mailander has been with PVA since 1992 and previously served as its deputy general counsel and assistant general counsel. Prior to coming to PVA, Mailander was a staff attorney with the Office of General Counsel for the Department of Veterans Affairs and the U.S. Coast Guard.

Mailander served in the United States Marine Corps from 1976 to 1979. He received a B.A. degree from New York University in 1984 and a J.D. degree from Temple University School of Law in 1988. He received his M.B.A. from the Johns Hopkins University School of Business in 2001.

Mailander is admitted to practice law in the District of Columbia, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Mailander serves on the board of directors for the Veterans Consortium Pro Bono Program as its corporate secretary. He also serves a public arbitrator for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and is a member of the Rules of Admission and Practice Committee for the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims.

Ronald B. Abrams, Esq., Director

Ronald B. Abrams is Joint Executive Director of NVLSP. He is a graduate of Temple University and Temple University School of Law. A member of the Pennsylvania Bar, Mr. Abrams began his career in 1975 in the Philadelphia regional office of the Veterans Administration, serving first as an adjudicator and then as a member of the rating board. Mr. Abrams transferred to the VAs Central Office in 1977 as legal consultant to the Compensation and Pension Service (C&P), where he was recognized as an expert in due process. As legal consultant to C&P, Mr. Abrams helped to draft the VA Adjudication Procedures Manual M21-1. He wrote and interpreted regulations and directives to be followed by VA staff and others, and both drafted and commented on legislation on the VAs behalf. As part of his work for the Central Office, Mr. Abrams was in charge of the C&P quality review section. While at the Central Office, Mr. Abrams conducted national training sessions in adjudication and due process for VA staff.

Since joining NVLSP in 1989, Mr. Abrams has conducted more than 200 training sessions for such organizations as The American Legion, the National Association of State Directors of Veterans Affairs, National Association of County Veterans Service Officers, the Vietnam Veterans of America, the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, AMVETS, Military Order of the Purple Heart, and many state and county departments of veterans affairs. He has also conducted training sessions for many state bar associations, Legal Services Corporation-funded offices, the National Legal Aid and Defender Association, the National Association of Elder Law Attorneys, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Mr. Abrams is the author of the NVLSPs Basic Training Course in Veterans Benefits and he serves as a member of the governing board of the Veterans Consortium Pro Bono Program. Mr. Abrams helped design the training curriculum for the Pro Bono Program.

Mr. Abrams assumed responsibilities as a voting member of the Executive Board on January 1, 2005, following the retirement of Mr. David Addlestone. Meg Bartley, Esq., assumed Mr. Abrams’ position as director of the Outreach and Education Components.

Verna Jones, Director

Ms. Jones has been a member of the Legion’s national VA&R staff since July 2009, starting out as an appeals representative in the Appeals and Special Claims Unit located at the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (BVA) in Washington, D.C. She has since held the positions of BVA Manager and Deputy Director of claims and currently the Director of Veterans Affairs and Rehabilitation. Prior to joining the national staff she was The Department Service Officer for the Department of North Carolina from 2004-2009.

As Director for VA&R she oversees all functions of the VA&R division to include Health care and the System worth saving, all matters involving claims to include the Board of veterans Appeals and Special Claims Unit, the Appeals Management Center/Washington Regional Office, Department Service officer School and liaison to the Department Service Officers located in the 57 regional offices.

Ms. Jones is also responsible for directing the VA&R Division in all legislative endeavors. Ms. Jones served as a personnel sergeant in the United States Army from 1987 to 1995. She is a member of American Legion Post #55 in Winston-Salem, NC and currently resides in Bowie, Maryland.

Hugh Quinn, CPA, MBA, CFE, JD, Treasurer

Hugh P. Quinn is the Principal at Quinn Forensics in Washington D.C. and brings over 25 years of business management, litigation consulting, and accounting experience to the position of Treasurer for the Veteran’s Consortium. Mr. Quinn has assisted corporate officers, boards of directors, including special and audit committees, and counsel, in a wide range of matters including government contractors, international accounting issues and insurance investigations.

Mr. Quinn earned his BBA from the University of Notre Dame, his MBA from the University of Denver and a Juris Doctorate from the Georgetown University Law Center.

Principal Staff Members

Camille Soleil, Esq., Executive Director

Camille Soleil previously served in nonprofit management positions with professional associations for register nurses, including Director of Leadership Services for the American Nurses Association, Executive Director of the Alaska Nurses Association, and Director of Labor for the Kentucky Nurses Association. In addition, she worked as an attorney for the Louisville Legal Aid Society.

Ms. Soleil attended the University of California at Irvine, (B.A. 1992, cum laude) and the Louis D. Brandeis School of Law at the University of Louisville (J.D. 1999, cum laude). She is a member of the Kentucky Bar and the American Society of Association Executives.

Meg Bartley, Esq., Director of Outreach and Education Components

Meg Bartley is a senior staff attorney at the National Veterans Legal Services Program (NVLSP), an independent, nonprofit, veterans service organization. She is also the Director of Outreach and Education for the Veterans Consortium Pro Bono Program. She is a graduate of the Pennsylvania State University (B.A. 1981, cum laude) and the Washington College of Law at the American University (J.D. 1993, cum laude). She is a member of the Maryland Bar and is admitted to practice before the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (CAVC) and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Ms. Bartley served as a judicial clerk for the Honorable Jonathan R. Steinberg of the CAVC. She currently trains lawyers and non-lawyers in the area of veterans law, is editor of the quarterly NVLSP publication The Veterans Advocate: A Veterans Law and Advocacy Journal, and represents veterans and their dependents.

Ms. Bartley is the author or a co-author of several publications on veterans law, including the Veterans Benefits Manual (Lexis Law Publishing); VA Benefits for Low-Income Veterans (Clearinghouse Review (Sept-Oct 2006); and The Elderlaw Portfolio Series: Veterans Benefits for the Elderly (Little, Brown, 1996).

Brian D. Robertson, Esq., Director of Case Evaluation and Placement Component

Brian D. Robertson, Esq., director, Case Evaluation and Placement Component, is an attorney with the Paralyzed Veterans of America. He became the director of the Case Evaluation and Placement Component in October 1994, after a brief period as the Component’s deputy director. He was a career Naval officer, retiring after 23 years of service, including more than 18 years as a Navy judge advocate.

Mr. Robertson is a 1971 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and a 1976 graduate of the University of Maryland School of Law. He also has an MA from the University of Southern California. He is past chair of the Veterans Law Section of the Federal Bar Association and a past President of the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims Bar Association.