Governor Bob McDonnell helped launch The Virginia Bar Association's campaign in 2011 for Veterans Legal Services Month. At a well-attended kick-off event at McGuireWoods LLP in Richmond on November 4, the governor, whose oldest daughter completed an Army tour of duty in Iraq, called the VBA’s effort “a critically important initiative. We are grateful that the VBA would take this on as a pro bono opportunity. Keep up the good work.”
Of Virginia veterans, some of whom have answered the call to serve in war zones multiple times, McDonnell said, “They are American heroes, offering life and limb for the cause of our country. We need to treat veterans well.”
During the month of November, in honor of veterans, the VBA Veterans Issues Task Force will seek to:
promote awareness of veterans' issues and their legal needs, and
raise funds to benefit Helping Military Veterans through Higher Education, (or HMVHE). HMVHE is a consortium of at least a dozen Virginia colleges and universities across the state that are coordinating their schools' resources to assist Virginia's veterans and military servicemembers with their legal, medical, and veteran benefits needs.
Update since last year
Last year's Veterans Legal Services Month increased attorney participation in the VBA’s Veterans Pro Bono Volunteer List by more than 75 percent. Since then, more than 30 veterans have requested legal assistance through this website. Recently, we have been receiving cases from the Wounded Warrior Programs at Fort Belvoir and Fort Eustis. These programs support veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan who were wounded in combat and are being medically separated from the service. Many of these service members have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or traumatic brain injuries (TBI). Returning from combat is difficult enough, but returning with these and other life-altering injuries creates unbelievable stress not only on the veteran, but also on their families. These veterans and their families need our assistance.
We also raised in excess of $25,000 to support the Veterans Benefits Clinic at the William & Mary Law School. Those contributions enabled the clinic to assist more than 300 veterans and their families and carry an active caseload of more than 40 files. There are any number of ways to raise money and spread the word, but contributing in exchange for the privilege to wear jeans to work, to in-house competitions to cook-offs and other contests.
With your help, we will exceed those successes in 2011. Volunteer now.Donate now. Remember our veterans.
Project history
The VBA remains dedicated to the highest ideals of the profession through advocacy and volunteer service. At the Association's Annual Meeting in January 2009, the VBA Committee on Special Issues of National & State Importance presented a program on "A Nation in Debt: Our Obligations to Servicemembers Returning From Combat—Iraq, Afghanistan and Beyond." The session shined a spotlight on the legal problems Virginians commonly face upon their return from overseas military duty and the lack of governmental assistance.
That led to a volunteer organizing effort and a fundraising campaign in November 2010, during Veterans Legal Services Month. Many people heeded these calls to action:
More than 100 VBA members volunteered to provide pro bono or reduced-fee legal assistance through the VBA's Virginia National Guard Project.
Lawyers have volunteered to provide advice in bankruptcy, commercial litigation, construction, consumer issues, criminal law, domestic relations, education law, employment, business law, general civil litigation, health care, immigration, intellectual property, juvenile law, landlord-tenant, personal injury, real estate, social security, taxation, veterans disability claims, and wills, trusts and estates.
Donations surpassed $25,000.
The money went to the Lewis B. Puller, Jr., Veterans Benefits Clinic (VBC), where law students at the College of William & Mary assist veterans with filing claims and appealing adverse decisions for disability compensation with the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Testimonials
"From the beginning of our involvement with the Veterans Benefits Clinic, our family's stress has decreased and since the VBC was able to get my husband permanent disability from the military, any worry over benefits will no longer be an issue. There is no way to explain how important this is to us. We are a young family who without the aid of the VBC would have had to rely solely on any income and benefits I could attain."
-- Clare O.
U.S. Army Maj. Uthlaut was part of a panel titled
"Lawyers Helping Warriors: Our Obligations to
Servicemembers Returning from Combat"
at the 2011 VBA Summer Meeting.
Watch a moving video about the lives touched (6:48).
Leading the VBA effort
In 2011, the Veterans Issues Task Force is being led by Bob Barrett (Degremont Technologies) and Matt Kapinos (McGuireWoods LLP), both of whom graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point and are combat veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. They received the Emerson G. Spies Award at the VBA's Annual Meeting in 2011 for their enthusiasm, loyalty and dedication to the VBA and VBA's Young Lawyers Division.
They hope to model fundraising efforts for the veterans initiative after the highly successful Legal Food Frenzy approach that encourages competition among legal offices in Virginia.
Contact us: The Virginia Bar Association, 701 E. Franklin St., Suite 1120, Richmond, VA 23219 Phone: (804) 644-0041 Fax: (804) 644-0052 Email: thevba@vba.org
The Virginia Bar Association is the independent voice of the Virginia lawyer, advancing the highest ideals of the profession through advocacy and volunteer service.
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Governor Bob McDonnell helped launch The Virginia Bar Association's campaign in 2011 for Veterans Legal Services Month. At a well-attended kick-off event at McGuireWoods LLP in Richmond on November 4, the governor, whose oldest daughter completed an Army tour of duty in Iraq, called the VBA’s effort “a critically important initiative. We are grateful that the VBA would take this on as a pro bono opportunity. Keep up the good work.”
