Vicki's Post-dav Rep-lawyers Etc

[Berta]

You are a few clicks away- VA has made this easy for you to do-

http://www.va.gov/oca/c2c_USA.htm

Tell your Congressperson how you feel about the right to hire an attorney to handle your VA claim.

[john999]

Their is an 800 pound gorilla in the room.......the DAV ......and they are against lawyers since the lawyers would show up the VSO's so badly.

[Patrick428]

Perfect!!! That is all we need is lawyers in the claim process business. Geez, can't do anything without a lawyer anymore.

A friend of mine is a lawyer, and he likes to go to the zoo and see all the reptiles. I said, "You can go to a a law school graduation for free and see all the reptiles you want!" :D

Edited August 24, 2006 by Patrick428

[Hoppy]

Somebody should develop testing and certification of SO's that is way better than what they have now if they want to get consistent quality of of representaiion for veterans.

I got thrown out of the office by a spervisor of a large service organization who told me I was wasting his time. Later, I was service connected for 100%. It would have been real simple for this VSO supervisor to suggest that I get a nexus letter rather than tell me I was wasting his time. I guess he thought he was sufficiently qualified to understand the varied symptoms of systemic vascular diseases. I sure am glad I found hadit and another VSO who had a B.S. / Masters degree and had worked as a rating specialist for the VA for 20 years prior to becoming an SO to help me with my claim.

I believe in freedom of choice. After getting to know several attorneys who help protect my rights as a qualifed injured worker under state law, assisted me in recovering my loses as a result of the injuries I sustained while being falsely arrested by the L.A.P.D., help protect my rights under the ADA, and assisted me in getting my SSD, I kind of got the feeling that reptiles wern't all that bad. I say let the veterans have some choices on the matter.

Correct me if I am wrong but I have heard that the VA does employee reptiles with law degrees to help them. I like reptiles. Especially when they are helping me take on the reptiles who work at the VA.

[Pete53]

Patrict:

Don't take it personal but every Vet should be able to make their own call. I could use a Lawyer for SS and I did not need one.

[vaf]

Patrick, the proposed legislation won't affect disabled veterans who choose to continue using the services of a VSO. If you're happy with the VSO's performance, then that's great - - carry on. Should you prevail in your claims, you can take the guy to lunch or something, and you'll be able to pocket the remainder of the proceeds - - your choice to make. And we'd be happy for you. On a related note, however, do you think allowing other disabled veterans to exercise the right to hire an attorney to handle their disability claims would somehow detract from your ability to file a successful claim through a VSO?

The reason we ended up handling our own claims was because we had a crappy SO, a guy who was a "roadie" (retired on active duty). We naively trusted him to act to defend our best interests. We found out the hard way that he was one of those guys who thought the local Disabled Veterans Affairs Office would be a great place to work if it weren't for all those damned disabled veterans bothering him with their problems.

The VBA employs an army of attorneys, so the precedent has been set. They use them against disabled veterans, and then tell the veteran he/she can't access the same type of protection. It's like the proverbial one-legged man entering an ass-kicking contest...

The DAV website refers to that organization's service officers as "attorneys-in-fact." Let's take a moment to really think about that statement.

The "attorneys-in-fact" (the attorney wannabees) want to deny us the right to hire licensed attorneys, who have actually graduated from law school, passed their exams and have professional expertise in veterans law, instead of merely having undergone technical training classes. So, it's not the fact that the veteran does indeed need legal representation that is being debated. Rather, it's whether the individual who offers that legal representation is, in fact, an attorney, or rather as the DAV describes its SO's, "attorneys-in-fact." Would you like a physician's assistant to describe himself as a "physician-in-fact" when it comes to trusting that person with the last word regarding your physical welfare? I sure wouldn't, and I feel the same way about attorneys vs. "attorneys-in-fact" when it comes to an issue as critically important as veterans disability claims.

It's been said here before - - pull up the Board and Court websites, search the site using the word, "Remand," and see how many hits you get. The majority of those remands indicate situations where the VARO was out of compliance with 38 CFR or M21-1. The services of an attorney would have come in handy at the onset of these claims, instead of again "disabling" the veteran a second time by legislating that the veteran navigate this process without the benefit of legal counsel otherwise available to the VA.

If the VSO program becomes obsolete due to this legislation, the service organizations only have themselves to blame. Protecting mediocre or inept VSO's by forbidding competition from bona fide attorneys will only flood the service organizations with more inept and mediocre VSO's. Why do you think so many of us handle our own claims?

[Stretch]

Vicki,

In my opinion, you are so correct and fair in your scrutiny of the system. As far as that gorilla goes. It is not really a gorilla anyway, it is just a self-perpetuating, over inflated blow-up gorilla doll.

It does not matter why the system is this way or how it got this way!