ATTORNEY TRAINING INFORMATION

Thanks for your interest in representing veterans and VA claimants in their appeal before the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (CAVC). We appreciate your volunteer spirit. The program works as follows: We provide training free of charge to lawyers who agree to represent a veteran/VA claimant before the CAVC. As well as receiving the day-long training, attorneys who participate in the program are provided a mentor (a practicing veterans law lawyer), the Veterans Benefits Manual (VBM), and other veterans law-related publications.

VETERANS AND THEIR FAMILIES NEED YOUR HELP

Since 1933 veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces had been frustrated by laws which barred judicial review of denials of their claims for veterans’ benefits. With the passage of the landmark Veterans’ Judicial Review Act in 1988, veterans who were previously denied benefits by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) gained the right to appeal a denial of benefits to the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims.

The presence of the Court has sparked an enormous demand for legal representation by veterans seeking judicial review. More than 45,000 veterans and family members have filed appeals in the Court since 1989 and most of those appeals involve claims for VA disability benefits.

Unfortunately, for many veterans the promise of effective judicial review has proven elusive. In 2008, almost 65 percent of those who filed an appeal at the Court were unrepresented at the time they filed. Unrepresented veterans are obviously at a significant disadvantage in litigation against attorneys from the VA General Counsel’s Office, who represent the VA at the Court.