aws2000

Up until XX/20??, when the VA Began the DRO Review or Hearing Appeals program, what, 99.9% of all Denied Vets had but (1) recourse, BVA Appeal.
Don't know about you guys but I certainly wasn't up to speed with VA Claims/Appeals in 08 and for about 2 years after filing the 1st claim. Certainly wouldn't have had the knowledge or experience necessary to Prosecute a successful BVA Appeal.
Smarter and more experience now, but I'd still opt for a Lawyer, if the BVA was the last chance for reversal.
After waiting 4.25 yrs for my 1st DRO Hearing (No Lawyer), I was successful with an "Informal" Hearing. Needless to say, I'm a proponent of the DRO Hearing.
Vet's need to realize when to "Pull the Trigger on the Lawyer." Don't waste time, if your not up to the DRO/BVA Task, "Pull the Trigger" Sooner Rather than Later. 20% of 4 yrs Retro is a hell of a lot less than 20% of 6 or 8 yrs, right.
Semper Fi

My regret is not hiring an attorney earlier.  It would have saved years of trouble, and maybe not cost a cent.  You can successfully go pro se iff (if and only if):
1.  You are willing to meet all deadlines.  One year to file the NOD, 60 days to file the I9, and timely appeal to the CAVC, all have to be done on time.  You need computer internet access, and a printer, as a minimum.  It helps to be good with search engines such as case law and 38 CFR's.    
2.  You are willing to read up on case law, regulation, and devote the time and money to persue your claim.  You have a good grasp of not only how to write, but VA terms, and legal terms.  
3.  You are organized and cal keep copies of your documents, and can find your records.
4.  You are persistent enough to wait 5 years, keep all deadlines along the way. 
5.  You are healthy enough to outlast your claim, since many Vets die or are to sick to continue.  
    If you dont meet all 5, above, then you should consider an attorney.  Not everyone can do this.  

I have filed NODs/appeals on multiple claims.
My "former" VA lawyer's plan was to sit back on my appeals and wait until the VA Regional Office issued a Statement of Claim.
Once the RO gets around to issuing a SOC, an attorney will have to prepare and timely file a "9" in reply.
Then, you wait for another RO review, possibly a SSOC by the RO on your claim, and then hopefully the claim proceeds to either a DRO hearing, or in my case, the BVA.
This can take years.
 
All the while.... time goes by, and the attorney's retro fee is growing larger with each day that passes.
Q :  Why should I wait for the RO to issue a statement of claim when I could get my claim reopened/granted much sooner by presenting new and material evidence?
 
So far, the RO has reopened five of my previously denied claims after I submitted new and material evidence, and I am currently awaiting those decisions.
I am humbly stating what is working best for me with hopes of helping others, not bragging.
 
After careful consideration, the decision was made to proceed pro se.
If my claims fail at the BVA level, I would hire an attorney for the CAVC appeal.
 

All attorneys are not created equal.
Here are my experiences with attorneys:
I remember consulting with an attorney a few years back when was on the NOD hamster wheel at the VARO. I was very impatient because of the typical "hurry up and wait" with the VA. I expected them to beg to sign me up asap, because they are the experts at this, but that didn't happen. We talked about my claims, they offered good advice (very similar to what I obtained here on hadit), and told me to follow up with them if I was denied at the BVA level. I did what they recommended and won at the VARO level.
I recently reached out to an attorney regarding some potential CUE claims and am putting together a packet for their review. I am not in a hurry and would rather take the time to submit a surgically sharpened claim with a very high chance of winning. They can then work their legalese magic. I realize they specialize in VA claims, probably have a large caseload, and I do not want to waste any of their time. If it takes them a month to notify the VA that they are representing me, I don't mind. However, if I were filing for hardship, I would want help asap, but would have hoped they would set my expectations up front...

Well, its your life.  It reminds me of building counter tops.  Ameteurs start by spreading glue and glueing the surface top, so it looks like they accomplished a lot quickly.  
Pros glue on all the edges, first.  Last is the surface top.  
It looks like they only glued on a few inches of material up until the very last.  However, doing this in the wrong order never makes a nice countertop that will last.  
The attorney needs to read thousands and thousands of documents...and much case law, before he decides upon the best method for you.  Running off half cocked and filing for stuff before he has read and studied this thoroughly wont produce the best results for you.  It takes many, many hours just to read my file..its over 1500 pages.  
You see, we already know most of our file..at least what we remember.  The attorney has not lived your last 10 years with you, and did not go to all your doc appointments with you.  He has to read what the doc said, and sort out what is and is not relevant to your case.  
I recommend you contact the attorney and tell him you made a mistake, welcome back.  Of course you dont have to have a reason to fire him, but all the reasons you hired the attorney for are still present.  It sounds like he is doing a thorough job to me, which is what you need. 
I have had my attorney for about 5 months, and no, the attorney does not send me a copy of every piece of paper he or she files.  I can look on the CAVC website and see what is happening as far as the court.  
The attorney will only get paid so many hours for my case...the VA only permits so many hours.  I want my hours used to help me win, not to educate me in VA law, or to counsel me with my problems.  I have a VA counselor to tell him my troubles to, and, sometimes I blurt them out on hadit.  I think my attorney will be paid about 10 hours of EAJA fees (which I dont have to pay).  
Yes, I want to call my attorney once a week and discuss all my theories of why VA should send me a huge retro check and have her explain why that wont fly.  But that is not productive.   You even see that in the NFL.  The owner hires a coach, then tries to run the team himself.  That is one reason Denver Broncos are doing so well, the owner has Alzheimers, so the coaches make the decisions as the owner has no idea.  So, they dont do things just to make the boss happy.  I will be happy when my attorney wins, and it costs me nothing but eaja fees.  If I need to be told how smart I am, then I can come to hadit and take Tbird to lunch, or go to the chess club and beat their champion.  

After I found Hadit in 2008, I began on my last batch of claims. I had no idea what a DRO was either, but I found out here and learned a lot. I had a couple of wins, but still was plagued by the repetitive denials and requested an in-person DRO meeting to lay it all out. I ran much of it past many of our brothers and sisters, including Carlie, here on Hadit. I also visited more than one VSO, had them review my submissions, and asked for their opinion. Their responses had a wide range, such as, "just send what you have and they will go through it", "we don't have time to help every vet to that degree", and also, "do you want a job?" After waiting almost two years in line for the DRO, I won, but not everyone has the same results. If a DRO denies, it is possible to have a different DRO review it, but there are some details about that which are discussed elsewhere on the forums. My plan was to exhaust my options at the DRO level before going to the BVA again. If I had failed at the BVA level, then I would have signed on with a lawyer.
I like Gastone's idea of bringing a lawyer in if you do not feel like going the DRO/BVA route by yourself. However, either way 0% of zero is still zero and 20% of something is a lot more than zero.
Broncovet also makes some really good points about how to weigh whether or not to get a lawyer.
Also, keep in mind that 63Charlie's problem was his lawyer was playing dragass with his claim. I would recommend writing down all of your questions before even speaking with a lawyer. This will save you time and keep things on track, just in case you forget something during the conversation. Of course, other questions may come up during the initial talk. Be sure to ask how long it takes for them to do certain steps. If it takes them several months to notify the VA of representation, they are not right for you. Also, please bear in mind that in many cases they may have a team of paralegals going through paperwork, not just for you, but also for other clients. Remember that accuracy is more important than speed in most cases. Lawyers for VA claims are not in the business to lose, but some may be more organized than others.

Superb advice here from all above.....
I just need to add one thing....  many claims need an IMO/IME to succeed.
With a good  attorney , but without a strong IMO/IME the claim could still definitely fail.
If an attorney themselves recommends the IMO/IME you will know they too would agree with that point.
Also on stressors...if you get a VAMH diagnosis of PTSD, but do not fall into the 2010 PTSD regulation criteria, or you do not have the PH, CAR, or CIB on your DD 214, a lawyer is not an eye witness to the stressor, so no buddy statement from them...that is something you would have to obtain on your own.
Lawyers do not perform miracles.But they can often see things in a claim that the veteran cannot see.In that way they can turn the tide on many claims.
Like Vync they often have paralegals as well,or if not,there is always stacks of claims stuff in their office...
and sometimes vets can get too voluminous with their claim story...too tangential... adding too many extemporaneous statements that have nothing to do with getting closer to the goal....
We had a widow here many years ago and her claim was all about 'poor me' crap.Many pages of that type of stuff without any solid evidence that would support her DIC claim.
I saw that situation here recently as well.... no one at VA has the time to read all that and it hinders the basic points one is trying to make with their claim. Lawyers cant take the time to read that stuff either.
Lawyers- I love lawyers...but they are neither doctors nor your 'buddy',unless they served in your unit- same time and place and witnessed what happened to you as a stressor..and ..the chances of that are pretty slim. You all have more time then they do to track down any type of evidence that will help your claim.
 

I would file the Form 9.  If you submit additional evidence after that they will review it and may make a decision before it even goes to the BVA.  I filed my Form 9 in 2013.  They were finally submitting it to the BVA in July of this year when they reviewed the C-File and granted me 1 of the 5 items on appeal before sending it.

First of all.  File the Form 9.    You are on a deadline with that.  You don't need an attorney, or an IMO to send in the Form 9 stating you disagree and want the BVA hearing.  Hopefully you are close enough to your regional office that you can hand walk it in to get a time stamped copy for yourself.  If not get it in the mail as soon as possible so you don't miss the deadline.
After that you can get the attorney and/or the IMO.  If you are going to go the attorney route they probably have a preferred company to use for IMOs. 
 
If you are going to just get the IMO yourself you need to make sure you print out the DBQs for the issues you are claiming.  And make sure you have a full copy of your medical records and SMRs for the IMO doctor to you review. 
The IMO will need to state it is "at least as likely as not" service related/caused or aggravated by a current SC disability.  And then it also has to provide reasoning for that statement.   If your IMO does that it is highly likely you will win the appeal. 
 
As far as the VA Backlog goes, you may want to at least reach out to a VSO.  There are ways to get it sped up and they can probably help you with that.   However once you submit the Form 9 it doesn't just automatically get sent to the BVA.    I filed my Form 9 in March of 2013.  The DRO didn't review my file again until July of 2016 to then send my case to the BVA in August 2016.  I had my video hearing November 3rd.  And it is now my understanding that the average wait time after the hearing for the decision to be sent out is about 270 days. 
With that said, before they sent my file to the BVA the DRO did review my file and granted one of the conditions I was contesting.  So if you do get the IMO and send it in they can indeed review it and possible grant your appeal prior to it getting sent to the BVA

Did your "external cardiologist see any link between the TIAs and the heart condition?
Did he/she in anyway consider that you have Ischemic heart disease?
The TIAs could be due to atherosclerotic heart disease (ischemia)(clots from heart causing brain trauma TIAs) as well as due to the HBP. (often caused hemorrhagic TIAs and stroke)
I am not a doctor but familiar some with cardio/neuro stuff and I always want to make sure Vietnam incountry vets know of the 2010 Nehmer provisions regarding the 3 presumptives they added to the AO list in 2010.
"  This has been going on for a decade and the local DRO has blatantly ignored 12 years of therapy and VA psych assessments which counter the one C&P doctor's 40min assessment. "
If you mean by "blatantly ignored", that the evidence (12 years of therapy which I assume included current med recs and maybe even the VA psyche assessment) and these were not listed as evidence nor mentioned in the decisions you received since filing this claim,it might be a CUE, but then again, you might need an IMO/IME to combat the lack of rating increase.I imagine you dont have much time left to even acquire an IMO, as far as a response period to this...? was it an SSOC? with a 30 day response period?
Have you checked the VA Schedule of Ratings here to make sure you definitely fall into a higher PTSD rating?
It would be worthwhile to see if the cardiologist would review the IMO/IME criteria here at hadit and state a brief medical rationale as to why the HBP is secondary to the PTSD...if in fact the medical evidence reveals that.  
edited to add:
http://www.index.va.gov/search/va/view.jsp?FV=http://www.va.gov/vetapp09/Files2/0913044.txt
HBP granted as secondary to PTSD.......it shows how they weighed the evidence.

You haven't actually "Lawyer'd Up" yet, right?
1st thing 1st, never let a significant ($$) claim die. You can request a BVA Hearing on you own, then at some point get with a  Lawyer at 20% of your Retro. If you were to be Awarded tomorrow, what do you think your Retro would Be?
I don't see any mention of you having applied for VA Vocational Rehabilitation and being turned down due to your SC PTSD. No mention of you turning in A Voc Rehab Denial Letter to your RO as New & Material Evidence in support of your IU Claim.
Don't know about it, never heard about it, forgot about it, Dog Ate it, what's your excuse?
A good friend, Nam Vet, think he was 70/71 at the time 06/30/14, told me he was sitting on the Voc Rehab Denial Letter. I had prompted him to apply to Voc Rehab in order to get the Denial Letter for N & M Evidence for his IU Denial DRO Hearing. I had just been Awarded all Major $$ issues at a DRO Hearing 06/29/14 to include IU T & P back to 12, I was 67.
The DRO said the Voc Rehab Denial Letter "Sealed the Deal" on the IU Award. My friend finaaly had his DRO Hearing 09/15, IU T & P Awarded based in large part, on the VR Denial Letter. It takes the possibility of Sedentary Work producing in excess of the SGI ($12,400) off the table.
It would be very informative, if you could post redacted copies of your Denial Decisions and SSOC's. There is always the possibility that you don't meet the IU or PTSD increase requirements.
Hypertension & TIA's are tough sells as Secondary to PTSD. No CAD yet, are you a Vegan?
Semper Fi

Given your age and heart condition, this should mean you get an advance on the docket to the BVA and, instead of taking 5 years, you may complete your appeal in as little as 4.999 years!!
Seriously, your attorney should begin pushing the advance on the docket through the RO, reminding you that more than half of the delay for the BVA is because of the Regional office taking a couple years to certify your appeal to the BVA.  
 Your attorney should be able to advise you on a possible hardship advance on the docket.  
Importantly, you should inform your wife and attorney that you want your wife to be substitution of claimant, in the event of your death, so that the appeal can continue.