Lawyers And Va

[rogus]

I have seen a number of postings concerning lawyers and the VA but have not seen a definitive answer as to whether or not you can hire a lawyer to represent or under what conditions you can hire one.

If you can hire one where do you start to look for one?

[jlshand]

I have seen a number of postings concerning lawyers and the VA but have not seen a definitive answer as to whether or not you can hire a lawyer to represent or under what conditions you can hire one.

YOU CANNOT BE REPRESENTED BY A LAWYER UNTIL YOUR CLAIM QUALIFIES FOR A HEARING BEFORE THE COVA ( COURT OF VETERANS APPEALS) THIS WOULD BE WHEN YOU CONTINUED TO APPEAL AFTER BEING DENIED BY THE BVA(BOARD OF VETERANS APPEALS) THIS PROVISION DATES BACK TO CIVIL WAR DAYS WHEN MANY UN INFORMED VETS WERE BEING " TAKEN ADVANTAGE" OF BY UNSCRUPULOUS LAWYERS

If you can hire one where do you start to look for one?

IF YOU GET TO THE POINT OF NEEDING/QUALIFYING FOR REPRESENTATION AT THE COVA, YOU COULD SEARCH COVA DECISIONS AT THEIR WEBSITE AND PICK UP THE NAMES OF ATTORNEYS RIGHT OFF THE DOCKETS. THERE IS ALSO A WAY WHICH MAY, IN CASES OF FINANCIAL NEED , PROVIDE REPRESENTATION PRO BONO.

LOTS OF CONFLICT AS TO WHETHER OR NOT IT WOULD BE ADVANTAGEOUS FOR VETS TO BE ABLE TO HIRE A LAWYER EARLIER IN THE PROCESS. PROPONENTS SAY THIS WOULD BE MORE FAIR TO US VETS BY ENABLING US TO WADE THRU THE CLAIMS PROCESS MORE QUICKLY. THE VA SAYS THE SYSTEM WOULD BE EVEN MORE UNTIMELY WITH LAWYERS CONTESTING EVERY DETAIL ENDLESSLY

THE VA DEFINES ITS ROLE UP THRU THE BVA STEP AS "NON ADVERSARIAL" EVERYONE AGREES THAT IF AND WHEN YOU REACH THE COVA LEVEL IT IS AN ADVERSARIAL RELATIONSHIP AND VETS SHOULD HAVE LAWYERS

BY THE WAY A BILL HAS BEEN INTRODUCED IN THE HOUSE TO ALLOW EARLIER REPRESENTATION DONT BET ON IT EVEN GETTING OUT OF COMMITTEE!!!!!!

[Guest allanopie]

I completely agree with Terry.

"Endless litigaton for useless issues", is exactly what I would expect VA emplyees to spread around.

If that statement had "any" ring of truth, there wouldn't be attornys available for your corporations to use. .

If the norm to seek justice in this country is to have legal representation by an attorney for US citizens & illegal aliens, then what the heck are we? Scum of the earth that will only defraud the Government with crooked lawyers & useless issues?

Try taking the right away from the people with the same lame excuse & see what kind of riots you get.

[john999]

Allan and Terry

You know in the Federal Workers Compensation System lawyers are basically taken out of the picture as well for the same reasons as the VA. It is supposed to be non-adversarial. Nothing could be farther from the truth. In the Federal work comp situation lawyers are not allowed to take a percentage of the award, so although the lawyers are not specifically excluded from the process there is no money in it for them so few attorneys mess with these cases. This was done to protect injured workers the government claims. What BS! Thousands of federal civilian workers lose house and home waiting for their claims to be accepted. Even worse than the VA by a long shot.

[SLEDGE]

I believe it's well known that my lawyer took my case for free at the start.

He went for a writ and they kicked-out TDIU in short order.

Since then we have been working on retro.

He also filed for eaja money and got it.

Legally, the eaja money is all that he was entitled to so far.

But, why does the eaja, 'Equal Access to Justice Act', money exist?

It's to pay attorney fees and expenses when they represent povert-stricken shmucks like me that got screwed by the VA.

While the eaja payment was less than the pecentage he woulda got for his cut under the regular rules,

believe me folks he got paid real good for what he actually had to do.

Under the eaja, a good lawyer could make a good living if he really wanted to help vets.

Just another sledge opinion.

sledge

[Angela]

Maybe one of us should get a law degree and just be a "consultant" or "secretary" (instead of taking the BAR and becoming a lawyer). Would that be legal?

[jlshand]

Dear Fellow Veterans & Friends.

I take excepton to the statment lawyers endlessly challenging the VA on every detail.

For 25 years the VA did not follow its own procedures which delayed my claim. Lawyers do not get paid unless they win a claim. Endless litigaton for useless issues is not what lawyers do. They do keep the VA foot to the fire to follow its own rules. When its the VA that violates its own policys. Its the Vet who gets hurt.

Decades of endless VA foot draging on my claim ended when I hired a lawyer and within 2 months the VA was paying me 100%.

My mother hired a lawyer at the VA level 3 years ago. Since then the VA did away with third party hireing of lawyers.

Terry Higgins

TERRY, if i recall correctly there is a provision to have a lawyer represent us earlier in the process than at COVA level but a third party must be paying for it. How this would come about in a real world case I have no clue!

The sad thing about this system ultimately is that The VA has no real accountability, no punishment for mistakes, no apparent overseer to insure guidelines are followed. There have been cases where the VA simply ignored even a writ of Mandamus won by legal counsel and directed by COVA!

The fact is they can do virtually anything they want if they can delay /desregard a legitimate court order to pay compensation to a VET. As you know , they can and do deflect pressure from senators and congressmen by answering they are hard at work wading thru a difficult process.

Paperwork gets misplaced, evidence is ignored etc etc.. Just check some of the verbage directed towards Dr Bash for all the help he has given for over 20 years to us VETS. If you go to the BVA decisions and search on BASH you will be bothered to see how much of the input provided by this good man have been derided by the VA. One of them basically said he had been presented as an expert in 19 different aspects of medical practice and couldnt possibly be knowledgeable in all these fields.

As an admitted cynic and skeptic I can easily see how introducing lawyers earlier into the process would just give the VA more opportunity to wiggle waggle and delay.

AFTER ALL IF NO CONTROLS EXIST IN THE SYSTEM TO FORCE PERFORMANCE NOW SHOULDNT WE BE JUST A BIT AFRAID THAT INTODUCING ANOTHER ELEMENT ( LAWYERS ) WITHOUT intoducing PERMORMANCE PENALTIES WILL IN FACT PROVIDE MORE OPPORTUNITY FOR OBFUSCATION AND DELAY? If the sysytem can basically ignore a writ of mandamus it cant it tie a lawyer up in knots tighter than it does us. JUST Maybe????

I believe the VA administrative system is a sorry joke. Just not convinced that lawyers and no other change in the system will help. And has it occurred to anyone else that congress talks a big game but basically benefits from keeping the system just as it is? Its all about money of course, and saving a few billions by allowing the VA to get away with the crap they do allows more $s for congressional raises , pork barrel projects etc. Does anyone believe that an honest , concerted effort by a significant number of congressman wouldnt get this thing under control?? Do they really want the sytem to change?

In my opinion, NAH! It serves a mutually supportive objective. What wa sthe lod saying about "you can't fight city hall"?????

By the way , where in the system was your claim when you hired your lawyer? Just curious