Do Attorneys Speed Up Claims Process?

[hurryupnwait]

This is from a post made on another forum. I have an attorney and it seems that my claim with him is following this pattern.

"To get back to the original question as to whether getting an attorney will speed up the claims process, I will say that in most cases, yes it does. Let me explain.

Current laws and regulations prohibit an attorney from charging more than a very nominal fee unless the claim for benefits is in appellate status. What this means is that if your claim is granted on the first go round your lawyer has essentially represented you for free. Let's just say that lawyers don't like to represent you for free.

So what many, if not most, lawyers do is to try to get the matter under appeal. They want the Regional Office to render a decision as quickly as possible so they do everything they can to encourage a quick decision even if all of the evidence is not of record. They don't want your claim granted at this point, they want it denied so they will have something to disagree with which let's them go "on the clock" as they say. Now they can start running a tab on you. That's why many lawyers start trying to waive all of your rights from the beginning in an effort to coax a quick decision out of VA. This is what I meant when I said that a lawyer will often speed up the claims process, but it isn't a speeding up that is to your advantage.

It's after the lawyer get's a Notice of Disagreement filed that they start dragging out the process. At this point they are essentially running up their bill. They tend to do very little actual work but they do send a litany of form letters to VA appearing to be claiming just about every benefit VA has to offer in all manner of legalese language. Not because they actually think you are entitled to any of this (heck, most don't have any idea one way or the other), but they hope to so bamboozle the non-legal claims processors at VA to the point that somewhere along the way they won't dot an i or cross a t or otherwise commit some due process error. At this point they will more often than not again waive your rights and demand that your claim be sent to BVA without any further action at the Regional Office.

So why do they do this? Two reasons.

First, should BVA actually grant your appeal they will get a cut out of your backpay. By this time there is usually a nice little bit of retroactive pay built up. Unfortunately in more cases than not your claim would have been granted anyway even without the lawyer, but this way the lawyer gets to share in your good fortune.

Second, even if your claim is not granted, if the lawyer has managed to accomplish his earlier goal of getting the Regional Office to miss something or otherwise make some mistake that results in BVA remanding the appeal to correct this mistake, the lawyer can collect a fee directly from the government under the Equal Access to Justice Act. This means that he collects whether you ever do or not. Unfortunately many of these remands by BVA are for shortcomings that were manipulated into happening by the actions of the lawyer.

In conclusion, until you have exhausted the claims process within VA itself and are ready to appeal a BVA decision to the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claim, you should stay away from lawyers. A much better bet is to find a good VSO who knows the VA claims process and who isn't trying to earn a fee off of you, and let that person help you "

Any comments?

Paul

Edited March 29, 2009 by hurryupnwait

[RetiredVet]

Pete, I tried for 7 years to get comped all to no avail. Then I got a Lawyer & within (Maybe not this long) I was 100% T & P

GARY

This was before I found hadit. Last claim I filed sailed right thru th RO but my Mentor Berta has taught me a lot about the VA

GARY

I wish i knewws as much as Berta.

[RetiredVet]

This is from a post made on another forum. I have an attorney and it seems that my claim with him is following this pattern.

"To get back to the original question as to whether getting an attorney will speed up the claims process, I will say that in most cases, yes it does. Let me explain.

Current laws and regulations prohibit an attorney from charging more than a very nominal fee unless the claim for benefits is in appellate status. What this means is that if your claim is granted on the first go round your lawyer has essentially represented you for free. Let's just say that lawyers don't like to represent you for free.

So what many, if not most, lawyers do is to try to get the matter under appeal. They want the Regional Office to render a decision as quickly as possible so they do everything they can to encourage a quick decision even if all of the evidence is not of record. They don't want your claim granted at this point, they want it denied so they will have something to disagree with which let's them go "on the clock" as they say. Now they can start running a tab on you. That's why many lawyers start trying to waive all of your rights from the beginning in an effort to coax a quick decision out of VA. This is what I meant when I said that a lawyer will often speed up the claims process, but it isn't a speeding up that is to your advantage.

It's after the lawyer get's a Notice of Disagreement filed that they start dragging out the process. At this point they are essentially running up their bill. They tend to do very little actual work but they do send a litany of form letters to VA appearing to be claiming just about every benefit VA has to offer in all manner of legalese language. Not because they actually think you are entitled to any of this (heck, most don't have any idea one way or the other), but they hope to so bamboozle the non-legal claims processors at VA to the point that somewhere along the way they won't dot an i or cross a t or otherwise commit some due process error. At this point they will more often than not again waive your rights and demand that your claim be sent to BVA without any further action at the Regional Office.

So why do they do this? Two reasons.

First, should BVA actually grant your appeal they will get a cut out of your backpay. By this time there is usually a nice little bit of retroactive pay built up. Unfortunately in more cases than not your claim would have been granted anyway even without the lawyer, but this way the lawyer gets to share in your good fortune.

Second, even if your claim is not granted, if the lawyer has managed to accomplish his earlier goal of getting the Regional Office to miss something or otherwise make some mistake that results in BVA remanding the appeal to correct this mistake, the lawyer can collect a fee directly from the government under the Equal Access to Justice Act. This means that he collects whether you ever do or not. Unfortunately many of these remands by BVA are for shortcomings that were manipulated into happening by the actions of the lawyer.

In conclusion, until you have exhausted the claims process within VA itself and are ready to appeal a BVA decision to the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claim, you should stay away from lawyers. A much better bet is to find a good VSO who knows the VA claims process and who isn't trying to earn a fee off of you, and let that person help you "

Any comments?

Paul

I disageees. my lawyer chargede a one time upfrontt fee. i think some peoplee do nto wantts veterans to use lawyers. i thinks the va does nto wnats them. lawyers wont not stand for how vetes are terated if you get a good lawery. lawyerss can only gte involvevd at a certian point in the procesess. talk to one and see what theys say. do not wait tooo longs.

Edited April 25, 2009 by RetiredVet

[Capt.]

Hello All, I would like to add that if you believe lawyers are not necessary for a veteran, then I would like to point out that the U.S. Justice Dept. is who the Veteran is up against. Skillfully using the 38 CFR's to find any way to deny the Veteran. The U.S. Justice Dept. has over 200 Lawyers assigned to it and that number is an old one. Also the salaries, I have been told run 125000 to 200000 a year on the average and depending on their positions. Of course all paid for by the Veterans, and other tax payers. WHY??????? If you think you are skilled to use the 38CFR's ,M-21, then by all means go at it by yourself. Then check this string of posts and see how many Vets have been sidetracked for years and sometimes loosing their claims cases , compared to the ones who succeeded with the help of a lawyer. Not everyone is as skilled as Berta and her experience and time put in to the study of the VA , 38 CFR's has not come without a price. ASK HER. It cost her dearly. And not everyone can be a Berta. Pete is right ,,,,,if the lawyer gets a cut of the final sum award DUE the Veteran, it is worth every penny. If you like waiting for 10-15 years and maybe ,,,,maybe getting thru it , and you are a young person then feel free to do it. Fighting the VA can be a full time job and takes hours a day of study , research, correspondance and frustration. This is the Big Leagues and the VA owns the Ball Club,and the Playing field . The Veteran has been invited to come to the mound and is allowed to pitch. Pitch poorly and your sent to the showers. Pitch well and .........you might ,,,,MIGHT,,,,, get thru the season and it is a season. And maybe if you pitch well enough finally to the World Series. Having a lawyer is like having a good Baseball Manager.....the best ones usually get to the World Series more than once. I have a lawyer and happy for that lawyer to hopefully make some money. This post from another website from Paul whoever he is, looks very fishy and I would not be surprised if it is a VARO employee using the internet to put out something so misleading. God Bless, NEVER GIVE UP....C.C.

[tagandbag]

This moderator from another forum is biased in his opinion and in my opinion, I feel he is not giving sound advice to veterans.

T&B

[Pete53]

Tag:

We try to keep Hadit out of other Veterans Boards scraps we have enough of our own. I only check other Veteran Boards when a Member here puts a link up and I would prefer that that did not happen either.

So to be blunt Hadit does not care what other Moderators do. We used to have one who came occasionally and was pretty helpful but he was trying to get a banned member back in to Hadit.

This is not aimed at you in particular its just a reminder to all Members that Hadit does not want to be involved with other Boards except for the news that Larry posts. We are pretty much neutral about other Boards but appreciate the help they offer to our fellow Veterans.

Sorry for the rant

[Capt.]

If this Paul is a moderator at another board, he can say what he wants ...I agree with Pete. Unfortunately as Tag pointed out his opinion may be biased and new veterans coming in without knowledge of the VA claims "system" may not understand and start off on the wrong foot. Many of us here at Hadit can remember how our claims may not have gone the way we wanted in the early stages. And that maybe, as I did , some things that just did not work out because of some "bad advice" that I thought was good. Only adding to much lost time to correct. thank goodness I found the Hadit Family and was able to take advice from some seasoned Veterans here. I still believe one of the most important changes to the VA and Veterans , was allowing initial claims decisions after June 21 , 2007 , for a Veteran to obtain a Lawyer , was a HUGE victory for veterans and one that certainly helps to level the playing field thru the maze. Especially when they get to the court systems and face the General Counsel VA and the Justice Dept. There are so many here that have and are moving their claims forward in a positive manner with their lawyers. I also don't want any fights with other moderators from other boards , but I also don't like seeing things said that obviously can cause our Veterans, widows , and families precious time thru their struggles and fighting with the VA. We all are either experiencing that for ourselves or know Vets that are.I still want to make it to the World Series....AMEN. God Bless, NEVER GIVE UP. C.C.