tdiu How to Get VA TDIU - from Veterans Law Blog

[Tbird]

 

[mojotiger]

Thanks for the input Gastone.

Of course I didn't expect to call Chris Attig's phone and have him answer the phone call, duh.  I did however leave more than one message in his voice mail box, because that was an option they presented.  I did that after not receiving responses from his staff at leat 6 or 7 times.  I also utilized his website, VLB numerous times as well as, email.  I guess he has so much business, he doesn't want any more, or simply can't take care of the clients he already has.  I don't really know and as I said in a previous post, if I have to beg someone AND pay them too, well, not in my interest to do business under those conditions.  

I wish good things for Chris Attig and his clients.  He would help himself by requiring more professionalism by his staff, and if they simply can't handle the volume of inquiries he is getting from Veterans, hire more staff.

Thank you for helping other vets.  I agree with your conclusion about VSO's.  I love and greatly appreciate the local volunteers, but the paid staff, not so much.

Edited June 5, 2017 by mojotiger
Mis spelling and punctuation

[Buck52]

mojotiger

Not sure  why you were denied or having problems with your claims?

  but  if you post your reasons and bases why you were denied  we may can help you on this and you may not need to hire an attorney?

just post a redacted copy  of your denial and block out personal information  Name & Claim## ect,,ect,,

There are some highly intelligent people here at hadit  and some of them maybe have been in your shoes  and got approved They can give advise  its all free of charge.

Just ask your questions and we all will try our best to help you,  this is all free advise and most of the time its all sound advise  although were not perfect but hadit is a darn good place to be when filing a VA Claim...or just to drop by and visit

[VetlawUS]

Hey guys, I appreciate the feedback.  Always good to hear the positive and negative stuff - let's us know what we are and aren't doing right, so thank you!! 

Let me try to address some of the concerns above:

First, the Veterans Law Blog isn't a law firm, so I do not give any legal advice through the VLB. On the VLB, my goal is to teach Veterans how to take back the power and win their own claims using my "8 Steps to Improve your VA Disability Claim" process.

If I get requests for legal advice through the VLB, I don't respond directly to the requestor - I usually "answer" those questions by writing a post that everyone can read (not mentioning your names, of course) or recording a video that answers a question that many of y'all ask.  

That's one of the reasons the info on the VLB is so helpful - if one vet has a question, there's a good chance that thousands of others have the same question.  

I also don't typically answer questions on topics I have written about - for example, I rarely answer Sleep Apnea questions, because darn near everything needed to prove up a Sleep Apnea claim is in the book.  If someone asks a question that is not in the book, I write a post on it, record a video, etc.

I also don't answer "do I have a good case" type questions sent to the VLB.  There is no way for me to give that kind of reassurance - we have to find that kind of confidence in our claims by "doing", if that makes sense. 

I just don't have the staff - or the capability - to provide one-on-one feedback for anything other than customer support on the VLB.  Maybe someday that will change, but the VLB works on a shoe-string budget to keep costs low.

Third, I do have a law firm, Attig | Steel (attigsteel.com). As you imagine, I get thousands of requests to get hired each month. Many of you know this, and offer to pay me crazy amounts of money to talk to you (which in most cases would be unlawful for me to do).  

When I say no, it's not that I don't want your money or your case. 

What I want - what I am trying to do with my law firm - is something very different than what any other firm is doing. 

We are not "in this for the money", so we take our time deciding which veterans and cases we work with.  I walked away from 2 cases last month that would have been the largest dollar amounts I've ever recovered; I referred them to another firm instead. Why? A "win" would have impacted only one vet.  Other attorneys think I'm crazy - and many of you will think that, too.

But if I wanted to get rich being a lawyer, I'd run for Congress or practice in another area - there are much easier ways to get rich.  

I choose to do this work with my brother and sister Veterans for  very specific reasons. 

Let me try to explain.

I am looking for cases that will have the broadest impact on the most veterans, and figuring that out takes time.

Think of it like this - an artillery round can take out a large number of enemy troops with one shot. A sniper can take out one with one shot.  

I am an artillery guy - it takes time to get the guns in position, to chart the round, to calculate the charges needed, and to adjust fire before firing for effect. 

The firm declines to consult with a lot of Veterans that have good cases just because we can't possibly help - or even respond to - everyone.  

The gang in my office here is instructed not to respond  to telephone calls for consultations; other firms do this sort of thing - we do not. If the request is made by phone, facebook message, email, text, etc., we typically will not respond. Our phone answering message directs folks to make consult requests through the website.

Additionally, we never respond to requests that simply say "call me", or "help me".  If a vet/survivor doesn't take the time to give us a good idea what their case is about, I promise we will not call back.  Not enough time in the day to pull information out of one person when thousands of others give information we can sink our teeth into.

I have a solid staff - their #1 job is to keep me as far away from the phone as possible - I say that somewhat "tongue-in-cheek". My team knows I like talking to vets so much that I'll talk to a single vet for as long as 2 hours, and get no other work done.  

Second, we do look at c-files in a small percentage of consultation requests - when we do, we can take several months to get the file and conduct the review, and there are hundreds of reasons this is the case.

That said, my law firm primarily focuses on CAVC and Fed Circuit cases  - we are looking to change law and precedent on a bigger scale.  (I am getting admitted to the U.S. Supreme Court Bar this week, in furtherance of that goal).

So, if you've been turned down at the BVA (not the Regional Office), we can usually tell you pretty quick if we can help or not.  

If that is your situation, submit your request here: http://www.attigsteel.com/bva-decision-contact/

Bottom line - if you didn't get a callback from my firm, I am sorry.  

Hopefully this helps you understand why that may have been your experience.

Chris Attig

 

 

[mojotiger]

Mr. Attig, I appreciate and understand,  now,  your position and practices.  I have been a premium member of VLB for about 6 months until my recent cancellation.  I do understand that VLB is not a law firm, though I did contact your practice via your website.   Numerous time I attempted to communication and never got a callback, or email.  

If you don't want to communicate with callers, you should not have a voice mail box for folks to leave you a message that you won't listen or respond to.  As you are seeking a certain type of case or cases, it us puzzling that you don't share that information upfront on either VLB or Attig & Steel websites. It will save you money on bandwidth and not waste the time of folks who wait months to hear back from you or your staff.  This information would have saved me about 6 months time, waiting to hear from your firm.  One of the worst things you can do is waste the time of folks who come to you for help, when due to your guidelines, with no chance of receiving your excellent help.  

IF,  you are getting many requests for help that don't fit your criteria, we all lose when we are left hanging.  A simple email response stating your parameters would alleviate unnecessary loss of time for those of us desperately seeking help.

Mr. Attig, I and many others have tremendous respect for you and your mission and we thank you for it.  I wish there were more lawyers with your knowledge and passion for helping veterans, and we'd LOVE to see you get rich.

Respectfully,  you need to be more clear on A&S website and when someone needs help you can't give, stop the practice of leaving them flapping in the breeze.  If you can, duplicate yourself with other attorneys around the country.

Thanks for all that you do to help disabled veterans. 

Edited June 5, 2017 by mojotiger
Grammar

[VetlawUS]

Thanks for that reply, mojotiger.  I value your feedback and you make some points that I would like to think over.   

One quick note - the cases I am looking for aren't cases I can easily define, and they often don't present until we see the file and study it.

The best way I can describe what I'm looking for are issues that can have a positive impact on a lot of Veterans.  

If I could find a way to describe that on the website without discouraging folks from submitting requests because they feel their case may not have a 'big issue' in it, I would. Open to suggestions, there. 

Regardless, thanks for your feedback...good or bad, it's always welcome. 

Chris

 

[mojotiger]

Thanks for your reply Chris, I  appreciate it.

I held out hope for a long time that I would be able to get your help.  I would have appreciated it if you had someone with your firm had let me know you had reviewed my situation after I submitted the requested paperwork.  Instead over 6 months of my time was spent flapping in the breeze for no good reason, other than no one in your practice saw benefit to both parties if there had simply been an email advising me that you didn't want my case.  Hard to believe that a fellow vet didn't see the value of communicating that fact.  It's a pissed to know that y'all did that and it served no benefit to anyone.  Even the DAV and the VA eventually communicate.

Thanks again for what you do to help veterans.