On August 11, the American Bar Association recognized something that the attorneys of Ingerman & Horwitz have known for decades – that veterans are woefully underrepresented by skilled attorneys. With that in mind, the association voted to officially urge law schools to create veterans’ clinics or to serve veterans’ needs through an existing clinic. While this vote doesn’t officially change anything, it recognizes the need for lawyers to serve veterans in a wide range of legal issues.
Real-Life Efforts at Helping Veterans
The University of Baltimore School of Law has recently established the Bob Parsons Veterans Advocacy Clinic, where a handful of law students, supervised by a JAG Corps veteran, will work about 20 hours each week handling cases for veterans.
We applaud the University of Baltimore for developing this and making a real difference. We’re proud of Maryland for leading the way in serving and defending our veterans. We also know it’s only a beginning.
Diverseeducation.com reports that a UB Law graduate named Michael Stone is developing a program to connect rural veterans with pro-bono attorneys through Skype or other video conferencing technology, giving veterans who can’t easily travel access to the best possible legal representation.
It’s examples like that which make us proud to represent veterans as experienced litigation attorneys. Our veterans need more attorneys to stand up for them, especially in complex litigation situations, where a law student is simply not enough. More law firms need to shift their focus to serving veterans.
Veterans’ Benefits Attorneys
We’ve been working with veterans for years. Establishing the right of veterans to receive disability benefits is a challenging but rewarding part of our practice. We love working with those who have served in all branches of the military, and we have the experience and expertise necessary to represent these brave men and women in the legal system.
Veterans’ Disability Benefits
One of the main areas we see veterans about is securing disability benefits. To qualify for disability benefits, a veteran must be able to prove the connection between the disability and his or her military duty.
Some types of disability are easier to connect to military service. For example, hearing loss among servicemen who operated artillery during their military service is a no-brainer. Similarly, veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan commonly experience vision problems. These problems often do not emerge until years after the initial trauma, often caused by an explosion.
Additionally, veterans are sometimes eligible for something called “special compensation.” Special compensation comes into play when a physical loss is severe, such as the entire loss of use of one eye, or deaf in both ears.
Veterans’ Benefits in the Future
Even though Baltimore is leading the way in recognizing the need for getting veterans their fair compensation for injuries, we’ve still got a long way to go. It’s a national problem, and it’s one that Ingerman & Horwitz will continue to fight.
Photo credit:Â “Flickr – The U.S. Army – Warrior Transition Brigade” by The U.S. Army – Warrior Transition Brigade. Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons – http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flickr_-_The_U.S._Army_-_Warrior_Transition_Brigade.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Flickr_-_The_U.S._Army_-_Warrior_Transition_Brigade.jpg
