by TChris

For more than a hundred years, veterans desiring to pursue disability claims haven't been able to hire a lawyer to bring those claims -- unless they can find one who will work for $10 or less. The Department of Veterans Affairs' legislative director wants to keep it that way. He says a proposed change in the law, allowing lawyers to be paid for helping veterans win disability claims, "sends the wrong message to our brave troops fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere -- that they need to hire an attorney to obtain the benefits a grateful nation has provided." Of course, if DVA gratefully paid disability claims, disabled veterans wouldn't need lawyers, making it difficult to understand why DVA would oppose the change.

Here's why it might be helpful for a veteran to have a lawyer fighting to win benefits from DVA:

On Aug. 16, the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims rendered a 31-page decision in a veteran appeal which determined that the Department of Veteran Affairs has been unlawfully denying presumptive disability compensation for exposure to Agent Orange for service members who served in the waters offshore of Vietnam and earned the Vietnam Service Medal.