The State Bar of California, in partnership with the Practising Law Institute, has produced a program that will train and encourage you to serve veterans while supplementing their practice. On Friday, May 6, 2011, this FREE program, "Advocating for Veterans - the Basics on Benefits, Discharge Upgrades and Cultural Competency", will be presented as a live Webcast.
Click here to register!
The program has been approved for 6 hours of MCLE, including 1 hour of Elimination of Bias.
There is also special accreditation with the Veterans Administration available if you attend the first half of the program. Details follow.
Why you should attend
Medical and financial assistance are available to men and women who have served in our military, but some who can qualify are not receiving the benefits that they need. Attorneys can assist veterans with the problems that preclude them from receiving benefits:
- Veterans are not aware of the benefits to which they are entitled
- Injuries, both mental and physical, are not "connected to service" by a proper paper trail
- Some were given less than fully honorable discharges for behaviors that were related to post traumatic stress or minor disciplinary infractions and the status of their discharge makes them ineligible for benefits
Each of these issues will be addressed at this program.
Accreditation by the VA
This may take several weeks, so do not delay filing your application.
Click here for application
You can speed up the process by:
a. Emailing the form to OGCAccreditationMailbox@va.gov
b. In your email message to the VA, please indicate that you are a registered participant in the May 6th PLI training
c. Include a copy of your State Bar Certificate of Good Standing
Within 12 months of accreditation you are required to complete 3-hours of qualifying CLE. The morning session of this program satisfies that requirement.
Attorneys and other advocates who become accredited will be listed on a national VA list, and are entitled to represent veterans in their claims for benefits, on a pro bono basis, and for attorney's fees on appeals, where they are available.
What you will learn
- The 3 one-hour morning sessions provide the basics you need to represent veterans before the VA. The morning session fulfills the VA's requirement for qualifying CLE within 12-months of your VA accreditation.
- The 1:45 session, Veterans' Cultural Competency: Combat to Community will help veterans' advocates to understand the challenges that veterans face in their transition to a noncombat community.
- The 2:45 to 5:00 sessions will provide attorneys with the tools that they need to assist veterans in upgrading their discharge status and removing stigmatizing information from their discharge documents.
Who should attend
Attorneys and advocates who plan to assist veterans in obtaining benefits on a pro bono basis, and those who hope to expand their practice areas to include veterans' cases where fees are available, should register for one or more of the sessions.
San Bernardino County Bar Association
phone: 909 885 1986
