There are a number of resources available to veterans and individuals seeking legal aid to support VA benefits claims or other legal needs. The Disabled Veterans Resource Center refers veterans to various organizations if they are in need of these services.
Attorney Referral Sources
The Disabled Veterans Resource Center has knowledge of many professionals that we feel confident recommending to veterans in need of legal assistance with VA claims, appeals, or other legal needs. If you contact us, we can make a recommendation to you that may be best for your situation. We include some links below for some of the significant organizations on the legal side of the veterans’ community. Many of these organizations have lawyer referral services. Most of the attorneys that practice exclusively in the veterans’ disability arena are capable and competent. But often veterans don’t know where to go to find such attorneys. They would all do an adequate job of representing a veteran, but we encourage veterans to hire an attorney with whom they have a good fit and feel comfortable.
Resources include:
This list of disabled veteran legal assistance resources is not comprehensive, nor do we suggest these are the superior ones. This list of resources merely includes places veterans can go to seek further assistance. Again, if you would like to find an attorney to help you on VA compensation cases, then consider checking out some of the resources above, or contact our office.
The Disabled Veterans Resource Center receives no financial contributions from these resources or for any lawyer referrals. We have no pre-determined relationship with these legal veteran advocates regarding any referrals.
Using Lawyers In The VA Compensation System
At the Disabled Veterans Resource Center, we’ve met hundreds of disabled veterans and their families. We’ve seen the unacceptable hurdles they face in collecting their well-deserved VA benefits and services. Service members aren’t often prepared for this struggle when they arrive home. Many are shocked to discover that the care they were promised is being denied.
Equally as many are surprised to find out there are indeed ways to get the VA to work for them. Our service men and women need to be aware that, despite the poor state of the VA, they can still get the benefits they deserve. They just need the tools and strategies needed to prepare a successful claim. And they won’t always get this information from the VA.
Several factors are at play in the VA’s failure to serve our veterans. Unfortunately, the system suffers from an overall lack of structure and preparedness – ironically something the U.S. military thrives on. We can’t blame a lack of resources. There is no shortage of funding. We can’t blame a sudden flood of veterans coming out of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. The VA knows well in advance how many service men and women it’s expected to serve.
Still, veterans are waiting years to get claims granted. VA hospitals are hiring underqualified physicians and staff. Disabled veterans who can’t get care end up self-medicating, experiencing unemployment, addiction, homelessness, imprisonment, and suicide.
Unfortunately, evidence points to decades of wasteful spending and gross mismanagement on the part of the VA. Leadership deficiencies have plagued the VA for quite some time.
Fortunately, there are lawyers who specialize in advocating for veterans and their interactions with the VA system. One notable difference between attorneys representing disabled veterans and their families, as opposed to other legal areas like personal Injury or family law, is the decades of experience these professionals have in navigating the current VA system. Poor staffing and faulty communication mean that, without highly detailed claim preparation, perfectly valid claims can get rejected.
Disabled veterans and their family members face unimaginably long waits to receive benefits. Any claim that isn’t bulletproof right from the start usually means lengthy appeals and red tape. Simply filling out the forms to the best of your ability often isn’t enough, though it should be. Unfortunately, non-VA legal and medical experts are often required to get the get what you deserve as far as benefits.
Despite the current state of the VA, veterans can still collect the benefits and services they deserve. In many cases, a legal advocate who understands how the VA system works, the evidence required to validate service connection, and strategies for tackling the troubled claims and appeals process can boost a veteran’s chances for fast benefits.
These professionals understand the inner workings of the VA system - not how it should be, but how it actually is. They know how to establish service-connection for mental and physical issues, even those that didn’t happen until long after discharge. They know exactly what types of evidence are needed to support service-connection, and they know where to find that evidence.