While Service Officers do their job with great dedication, many are part-time volunteers who do not, or cannot, keep up with the reams of VA regulations and the latest legal decisions handed down by the CAVC. As the VA claims process becomes more contentious and legally complex, the best choice to "run the gauntlet" of this adversarial process is an attorney who knows the law because they live it every day.
The adversarial nature of the VA claims process is a fact of life. Every veteran knows the saying "Delay and Deny and Hope that I Die" and will tell you it is the VA motto. And, not surprisingly, the VA is the most vocal opponent of this legislation. The VA argues that its relationship with veterans is that of a caring provider and describes the claims process in these benign terms: "All a claimant need do is file a claim, and VA will notify the claimant of the information and evidence necessary to substantiate the claim, assist the claimant in obtaining relevant Government and private records, provide a medical examination or obtain a medical opinion when necessary to decide a compensation claim..." I doubt any veteran who has fought the VA for years to receive a small amount of disability compensation would agree with that description of the process.
The VA also argues that it would have to create a new bureaucracy to perform attorney accreditation, oversight and review fee agreements. And? If the VA is truly on the side of veterans in the claims process they should have no qualms about performing this service. It is important to note that veterans have no vehicle for oversight of the VA attorneys who now routinely fight their claims.
Now, more than ever, veterans need attorneys at every level of the VA claims process, especially at the CAVC. An attorney who represents veterans in the claims process recently told me, "It's important to remember that, at the Court [CAVC] , we are no longer dealing with a 'veteran friendly' requirement...It is litigation, with the VA being 'against' the veteran..." Another veterans' advocate and attorney put it this way: "We end up at the CAVC, many times, with a claim that has been butchered by those who either don't know or don't care. If we were involved at the beginning, the process would be faster and fewer claims would end up before the CAVC." Not all attorneys are so harsh in their criticism of Service Officers, but most with whom I've spoken agree that the point is valid.
Is there a definitive answer to the question of whether attorneys should represent veterans in the VA claims process? Yes! And it comes from the former Chief Judge of the CAVC. Frank Q. Nebeker was the first Chief Judge of the CAVC and retired in 2000. Nebeker puts this entire issue into perspective in a letter written to the House Committee on Veterans Affairs. Nebeker wrote, "...I can state with certainty that vast numbers of benefits claims could be resolved much sooner if a claimant were able to exercise a choice to seek legal counsel in the beginning of the process." Nebeker added, "In my view, something must be done to help veterans to avoid this ingrained delay in processing claims, especially for today's claims which involve increasingly intricate legal and evidentiary issues."
The Judge has spoken. Be sure to contact your representative in the U.S. House and urge them to support the Veterans' Choice of Representation Act of 2006.
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