Guiding Your Clients Through the Veterans Disability Benefits System

This program, taught by Blair Thompson, a professor at Hofstra's Veteran's Law Clinic, is designed to provide a general overview of veterans' disability benefits law before the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). It will review the procedures for appealing a VA disability denial, which will briefly include a discussion of the "legacy" process for claims submitted prior to February 19, 2019, as well as the new procedures implemented under the Veterans Appeals Improvement and Modernization Act. It will also cover the evidence veterans advocates need to provide in order to obtain disability benefits for their clients, and the legal standards the VA uses to evaluate the evidence. Finally, the program will address best practices for an attorney representing veterans before VA.

Learning Objectives:

1. Review the structure of the VA, and where disability adjudication takes place within that structure
2. Appeal an initial denial of a VA disability decision
3. Identify the new "lanes" under the Appeals Improvement and Modernization Act
4. Introduce the concept of service connection
5. Utilize the different kinds of evidence needed to prove the different elements of service connection
6. Assess the VA's role in assisting the veteran in substantiating his or her claims
7. Discuss how to become certified by the VA to represent veterans in their disability appeals