ABOUT THE PROGRAM

The Veterans Consortium Pro Bono Program (Program) was created in 1992, with a dual mission: to recruit and train attorneys in the fledgling field of veterans’ law; and to provide assistance to unrepresented appellants at the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (Court).

Under the direction of an Executive Board, Congress created the Court in 1988, and the Court quickly realized that 80% of its appellants were proceeding without legal representation. With the approval of Congress, the Court provided a portion of its annual appropriation to the Legal Services Corporation, which sought proposals to create a program to provide pro bono representation to appellants at the Court. Four national veterans service organizations – The American Legion, the Disabled American Veterans, the National Veterans Legal Services Program, and the Paralyzed Veterans of America – formed The Veterans Consortium (Consortium) and submitted the winning proposal. The Consortium has conducted the operations of the Program since the fall of 1992.

The Consortium provides significant assistance to lawyers and to the appellants seeking assistance from the Pro Bono Program. For volunteer attorneys, the Consortium teaches a one-day class in veterans law. Every attorney who accepts a case from the Consortium receives an analysis of the case prepared by the Consortium’s veterans' law specialists. Each attorney also receives extensive research materials published by LexisNexis (including the latest version of the Veterans Benefits Manual and a CD-ROM with an on-line research capability), as well as the assignment of a mentoring attorney to provide advice and assistance as may be required.

Each appellant who requests ProBono Program assistance receives a thorough review of his or her VA claim file. Approximately 40% of the cases evaluated by the Program are accepted for referral to a volunteer attorney. An appellant whose case is not accepted into the Program receives substantive legal advice about his or her case and an explanation as to why the Consortium cannot place the appeal with a volunteer attorney.