Dav No Longer Handles Appeals To The Court Of Veteran Appeals

[allan]

As I understand it, the DAV no longer handles appeals to the Court of Veteran Appeals

DAV has got out of the legal representation at Court business and sub-contracted (partnered) with a major intellectual property firm, Finnegan Hnderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLP (www.finnegan.com

Ronald L. Smith joined Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLP as pro bono counsel in July 2008. Prior to joining Finnegan, Mr. Smith served as Deputy General Counsel for Veterans Claims for the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) where he supervised all appeals to the federal courts for the DAV. Mr. Smith served with the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General from 1984 to 1989 before joining the DAV. His practice for the past nineteen years has generally been representing appellants before the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims.

Mr. Smith has prosecuted more than 400 appeals in the federal courts. He has participated in more than forty oral arguments and is associated with some of the earliest decisions of the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. His cases have resulted in more than sixty published opinions.

"Keep on, Keepin' on"

Dan Cedusky, Champaign IL "Colonel Dan"

See my web site at:

http://www.angelfire.com/il2/VeteranIssues/

[broncovet]

Interesting..

I knew something was up several years ago when the DAV publicly opposed Veterans getting lawyers..they said we Veterans do not need lawyers, we have the DAV. If the DAV was doing its job representing Veterans, how come there are so many Veteran suicides? How come so many Veteran homeless?

Now, it looks like the DAV does not represent Veterans in court, and they certainly are not representative of the Veterans voice to congress, so what does the DAV do, other than get "free rent" from the VA Regional Offices?

Oh, yes, I guess there is no such thing as "free rent", soooooo I wonder if THIS is what the VA is getting as "rent" money....an impotent DAV?

It sounds like the VA is paying the DAV "rent" in the form of "hush money"...something like..

"Ok..we (the VA) will give you (the DAV) "free" office space in the event you do not "rat out" the VA when it comes to shredding Veterans claims, to substandard health care

(50 Veterans now infected with dirty VA test equipment) or any other new scandal that comes along. Its business as usual, with Veterans getting the shaft in this political hamster wheel.