What Inspired Me to Initiate the Veterans Law Project at NCCU

by Craig Kabatchnick

For several years it was my desire to initiate a legal clinic at a North Carolina law school to provide legal assistance to veterans and their dependents with respect to VA claims of various types.  In light of recent world events and the continuing flow of American casualties from Iraq and an even larger aging veteran population, there is a significant need for such legal services - especially in light of legal fee limitations in federal law which discourage private attorneys from participating in veteran claims matters. The establishment of a clinic that will capitalize on eager intellectual assets (law students) and unlimited research resources, under the direction of highly skilled managing attorneys, seems to be a logical way to meet that need.  Establishing the clinic in Durham, NC is especially appropriate since a major VA hospital is located there and also because of its proximity to North Carolina Central University, thereby providing an excellent opportunity for law student involvement at all levels of the VA claims adjudication process.  Furthermore, North Carolina Central School of Law, a historically African-American institution, would greatly enhance clinical activity involving minority veterans, since a significant percentage of veterans are in fact African-American. 

By reason of my extensive involvement in veterans law, I felt especially equipped to lead in establishing and maintaining such a clinic.  Not only do I have experience in the General Counsel’s Office of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, but I have also been involved with numerous veterans claims in private practice.  In other words, I know the ins and outs of veterans law from both perspectives – the veterans’ and the government’s.

From a cost/benefit analysis perspective this clinic could be initiated through private funding, donations from foundations or otherwise.  The initial legal assistance could be provided at minimal expense in view of the large number of claims to be processed and the inevitable interest among law students in acquiring “hands on” experience.  The goal of the clinic’s supervising attorney is to serve as a full-time professor, teach two or three classes or seminars a week, and be available five days a week to assist groups of students in their training and their handling of veterans claims at all levels of the VA claims adjudication process. The cost for employment of a full-time professor and member of the staff at North Carolina Central University School of Law,  along with a modest support staff, would be quite reasonable.  It is my hope that an adequate grant from a foundation could be obtained to cover any costs for a full-time professor, a second attorney, as well as for office and clinical space for this and clinics at other schools.

Participating law students will assist with the screening of files and sorting incoming claims and documents necessary for claims development, interview veterans as to the validity of their claims, assist veterans with the technical aspects of filing their claims, perform legal research, prepare supporting legal briefs, help a claimant file all applicable forms, assure that the initial development of a claim is completed within the time limits imposed by the VA, and perform whatever other tasks are required to successfully move the veterans’ claims through the related adjudication process. The students providing assistance would receive credit for clinical study under arrangements between the clinic and the North Carolina Central School of Law.  Secretarial help will be necessary for monitoring telephone calls, setting up appointments, and completing documents.

Furthermore, not only could the law students help veterans to develop their claims, these students could assist in ordering further medical examinations when needed, and insuring that the VA applies its broadened duty to assist a veteran in the development of their claim required by the Veterans Claims Assistance Act of 2000, as well as case law.  Prior to filing an appeal with the Board of Veterans Appeals, which is staffed solely by VA attorneys, the students could assist with the filing of a Notice of Disagreement with an adverse VA rating decision, whereupon a statement of the case is issued by the VA explaining the rationale for the VA rating decision.  Thereupon an appeal to the Board of Veterans Appeals would be filed with the assistance of the law students under the guidance of the Clinical Director.  I believe that I would be of immense help in training and guiding law students, in the processing of these claims in-house, based on my experience in my family firm, as well as Everett & Everett, where for more than 18 years I primarily focused successfully on medico-legal issues, as well as the vast experience I obtained after serving more than five years as a member of the Appellate Litigation Staff Group in the Office of the General Counsel of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. 

Veterans in this country, and most especially in the state of North Carolina, are completely unable to obtain the assistance of legal counsel in the processing of their VA claims due to the fee limitation placed on veterans’ claims, dating back to the Civil War.  Students will be attracted to this program because they will gain hands-on experience handling claims, under the supervision of an experienced attorney in the area of VA law, involving such issues as compensation and rating determinations, home loan guarantees, widow’s benefits, hospital care/nursing home care, eligibility for vocational rehabilitation, and medical malpractice.

This clinic can be handled under the supervision and training of one full-time  attorney with VA experience performing as a Professor and supervisor and perhaps one additional assisting attorney, if needed, and the requisite support staff to assist with intake and filing, and of course the law students at North Carolina Central School of Law, who will fill that great void and great need for legal assistance to get these initial claims developed in such a nature that they are ripe for eventual judicial review at the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims level, or at United States District Court.   

Under these circumstances I concluded that some type of center, clinic, or institute is needed in North Carolina from which veterans and their dependents in this State and elsewhere can obtain the legal assistance which is necessary for the preparation and submission of their claims.  The level of legal training necessary to render this assistance can be attained by law students with a modest amount of legal training which can be achieved through classes at the law school on a weekly basis. 

North Carolina Central School of Law has distinguished itself with its in-house legal clinics and public interest programs.  North Carolina Central School of Law students could play a very major role in this regard, because they could be so readily trained in classes or otherwise to discuss potential claims with clients and provide assistance in preparing documents and assembling evidence.  In order for this in-house clinic to function properly, it would only take a single experienced attorney, with VA experience, to serve as full-time supervisor and professor and to train them on the VA claims adjudication appeal process. 

The rewards of this program are immense both to the students, and our society, who owes so much to those who risked their lives for our country.  The clinic stands to assist large numbers of injured service members, qualifying veterans, and their respective families, and will immediately help those individuals currently serving in Iraq, as well as those who served in Vietnam, Korea, and World War II.