The Wire
June 2011
Last week the U.S. celebrated Memorial Day to honor all of the brave men and women who have served in its armed forces and made the ultimate sacrifice while doing so. In addition, on Memorial Day many of us recognized and thanked those serving today and the many veterans who have served over the years. Our friends at the Hewlett-Packard Company (HP)** have chosen not to limit their efforts to a holiday weekend. Instead, the legal department has adopted a signature project to assist veterans throughout the year. Below is a description of their good work from Todd R. Tabor, Senior Counsel, HP Legal.
Imagine you are a member of the U.S. military—either on active duty or a veteran—sacrificing years to serve, honor and protect our freedoms and our country. And, when you apply for the federal benefits that you may have earned as a member of the military, they are denied. So you file an appeal. You are then told it could be up to three years before your appeal is even heard. HP Legal saw this problem as a great pro bono opportunity and has once again teamed up with the National Veterans Legal Services Program (NVLSP) to help.
Pitching in to assist those serving in the military is always a good thing—giving back to those who have done so much for each of us. And, HP Legal welcomed the chance to lend a hand. The great news about this project is that all HP Legal employees can participate—both attorneys and non-attorneys—and from any location. It also gives us the opportunity to be innovative and leverage some of the advanced technologies that HP brings to the table.
NVLSP is an independent nonprofit organization that works to ensure that our nation’s veterans and active duty personnel receive the federal benefits they have earned through their service to our country. NVLSP often partners with and assists other service organizations in their work, and as a result became aware of an issue being faced by The American Legion.
As part of the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Board of Veterans’ Appeals reviews benefit claim determinations that have been appealed by veterans. Legion “Appeals Representatives” provide representation before the Board on behalf of veterans filing appeals. Due to a variety of reasons, there is a significant backlog of cases awaiting Board review—it can take as long as three years before an appeal is heard. And, representatives confront similar staggering workloads while trying to assist veterans and other appellants.
When NVLSP and HP started discussions with the Legion about a collaborative project, you could feel the excitement in the air. After months of preparation, training, securing approvals, and setting up a secure system and methodology for distributing and reviewing case files, the project was launched.
The project itself is relatively straightforward. HP legal volunteers, accredited as Legion representatives, review entire case files—some can be thousands of pages long—to identify key rulings and findings, and from this review create a case summary. The case summary is delivered to a representative who utilizes the information to help prepare the brief for submission to the Board.
With HP Legal volunteers handling this up-front work, representatives have more time to focus on developing supportive arguments to submit to the Board, and move appeals through the system at a faster pace.
Though still early in the project, we have achieved our first major milestone—more than 100 case files reviewed and summarized. And because the reviews have been so successful, plans are underway to increase the scope of the reviews to assist representatives even further.
We plan to continue to refine and evolve the project over time, and in the process help our veterans obtain the benefits they so highly deserve.
*denotes a Signatory to the Law Firm Pro Bono Challenge®
**denotes a Signatory to the Corporate Pro Bono Challenge℠