Why pay an attorney......

[63Charlie]

........when I'm the one battling the VA from the trenches?

The only thing my attorney has filed with the VA is the letter indicating appointment as my attorney.

So.... I fired him.

[FormerMember]

The first thing missing from this discussion about attorneys/hired legal help is glaringly obvious. Consider the following. Joe Average Vet asks Mr. Law dog to represent him. Joe becomes irritated that Mr. Law dog has not "measured up" to his expectations and he fires him for whatever reason. Trust me. We can see this the moment we order the c-file, or, in my case, when I go on VBMS and review his c-file remotely following submittal of the VAF 21-22a. I can easily determine if she/he has a habit of jumping ship from one law dog to another by how many 21-22s or 21-22a there are in the file. Trust me when I say I wouldn't touch you with a ten-foot fork if I thought I was going to invest any time into your claim only to have you bail on me shortly thereafter. A compact between an attorney and a Vet is not as binding or enforceable as Vets might think. If they file a new POA (21-22a) with another attorney or a VSO, all that is right there in the file. Should you have the misfortune to pull this stunt like 63Charlie , you'll be shunned like you have leprosy.

The second thing is even more important. This is litigation much like ambulance chasing. We're going to work for you using our own money and assets for what may turn into years. In some cases, I have to get a doctor and pay the fee for the IMO out of pocket if the Vet is financially challenged. I (or an attorney) have invested countless years learning how to do this. It's a recipe like baking cookies or putting down laminate on kitchen countertops properly as BroncoVet pointed out. Why would I invest time and energy with no eventual reward? A service rep does it because he gets paid by his VSO regardless of the outcome. An attorney/agent gets nothing if he a) loses or b) the Vet skies out on him. Based on this alone, many attorneys want to take a good long look at your c-file to make sure there's a valid claim. We are not allowed to file frivolous claims for Vets as we risk losing our accreditation. 

Looking over Hepatitis C claims, I cannot count how many blame the jetguns and conveniently overlook their heroin addictions and the sharing of needles/syringes. All that is a matter of record and it pays to find out the character of the one you intend to represent before you find out you're pissing on a flat rock and getting your shoes wet. VA law is not particularly complicated after one becomes experienced. However, learning the best way to do it is a never-ending educational process as VA frequently changes their game plan once we figure it out. 

The third thing is that some claims, like HCV jetgun claims, are unwinnable at the VARO stage. A Regional Director simply doesn't have that authority. Joe Vet is not aware of this and could spend years waiting for a futile DRO review and hearing.  Every single case has gone to the BVA for adjudication. Complicated CUE claims going back to 1952, like Leroy Macklem's, will never be granted without a fierce battle all the way to the CAVC. Witness my eight-year battle to the CAVC for my 1994 EED. The accepted adage is that the more money on the table, the more they will fight and deny. As for Joe Average Vet fighting 500 BVA staff attorneys and expecting a win without a competent attorney is like expecting to win a quadriplegic asskicking contest with no prosthetics. 

I have helped many win but one thing I always studied was whether they were entitled to it first. As Vync pointed out, the attorney doesn't know you in most cases. He or she must decide if your claim has merit, whether you're a flight risk and what the value of the claim is. One thing we do not do is try to inflate the time it takes to win it in hopes of padding the paycheck. That falls into the category of morals. I leave you with this thought. If you could make an easy guaranteed 40% in short order as an attorney chasing ambulances and hanging out in emergency rooms, why on earth would you opt to help Vets at 20% and $187.50-an-hour in EAJA chump change and wait years-sometimes even decades- for a payday?

Occam's razor tells us that the simplest explanation for a conundrum is most often the correct one. I do this to pay it forward. I did it for free for others for eight years after I figured it out. When an attorney told me I was more knowledgeable than him and should take the test to become an agent, I laughed. A year later I took the test. I don't do it for money. Thankfully, I'm blessed in that regard. I attend the NOVA conferences every spring and I have yet to hear one single attorney brag about how he is getting filthy rich doing it. To a man (or woman) they tell me they do it because they respect us and what we did for America.

I'm sure somewhere in this closed system there are unscrupulous attorneys who might pervert the system and try featherbedding a claim. To be honest, there are so many needy Vets and so few of us skilled in the art form that we have no need or desire to drag out the process in hopes of a big payday. I've seen an attorney fight for 8 years for a Vet  to get him 10% for tinnitus. Test your mathematics skills and multiply $125 a month X 96 months and peel off 20% of it for your pay day. It comes out to $2,400 out of a potential $12,000. Actually, it's less than that as I used the $125/mo. figure instead of going rates over the last eight years. Trust me. It doesn't even pay a month's rent- let alone the errors and omissions insurance for a year. 

In VA claims, you have the right to remain stupid, and I will defend that right to the death, but please do not come to Hadit and tell us about how eeeeevil VA attorneys are. Never have so few fought so hard for so many for so little financial gain. We are required by law to provide 30 hours per year in free pro bono time to clients at no charge. Most of us exceed that tenfold.

And that's all I have to say about that. 

 

[Buck52]

Great Post Alex!