News Room
NVLSP Press Releases
National Veterans Legal Services Program Honors Attorney David Addlestone for Pioneering Work
The 2015 Senator Daniel K. Inouye Award was presented to Congressman Jeff Miller by the National Veterans Legal Services Program (NVLSP). During the organization’s annual benefit reception. The award recognizes his advocacy and legislative work on behalf of our nation’s veterans and their families. [more]
Released 11/24/15 | Tags: Supporters
NVLSP Stands Up New Project to Assist Veterans Appealing Denial of VA Disability Benefits for Mental Health Disorders, Reduction or Termination of VA Disability Benefits
Veterans who are appealing the denial of certain disability compensation claims to the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (BVA) can now request free legal help from the Lawyers Serving Warriors Project of the NVLSP. The Lawyers Serving Warriors project focuses on some of our nation’s most vulnerable veterans – those seeking benefits for mental health conditions who were denied, as well as those facing a reduction or termination of VA disability compensation. [more]
Released 11/19/15 | Tags: Board of Veterans' Appeals
Click here to view the job posting for the open Litigation Staff Attorney position. [more]
Released 10/20/15 | Tags:
NVLSP will continue to monitor how VA manages Agent Orange disability benefits and ensure veterans are treated fairly
NVLSP issues a statement on today’s announcement by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) awarding a presumption of Agent Orange exposure to military veterans who flew C-123 planes after the Vietnam War. The announcement awards disability benefits to these veterans, many of them Air Force reservists, who did not initially know they were exposed to Agent Orange while flying C-123 planes for the military after the Vietnam war ended. [more]
Released 6/18/15 | Tags: Agent Orange, Veteran's Benefits
They’re accustomed to tackling legal challenges when fighting to help our nation’s veterans, but now the National Veterans Legal Services Program (NVLSP) is taking on a new challenge – raising funds competitively for five weeks through the crowdsourcing Veterans Charity Challenge. [more]
Released 5/21/15 | Tags:
Event Organized by NVLSP Draws Attention to Impact of More Than a Decade of War in Iraq and Afghanistan, Changing Roles of Women
Four notable women authors who have written about the Global War on Terror in Iraq and Afghanistan and its impact on women serving in the military and on the home front, will participate in a panel discussion organized by the National Veterans Legal Services Program (NVLSP) and moderated by Judy Woodruff. The event is open to press coverage. [more]
Released 5/19/15 | Tags: Supporters
Seven Veterans Sue Department of Veterans Affairs for Unreasonable Delay
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is violating the law by failing to send veterans requested medical records needed to obtain benefits, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court today. Some have been waiting as long as 25 months.
Seven veterans who served in the Army, Air Force, Navy or Marines are suing the VA, claiming that the agency has ignored written requests for their own records. Without the documents, the veterans cannot apply for military disability benefits and cannot seek a change in disability rating.
The veterans – from Florida, Kentucky, Colorado, Virginia and Wyoming – are represented by Public Citizen and the National Veterans Legal Services Program (NVLSP). The groups are asking the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to declare that the VA has unreasonably delayed responding to the veterans’ requests for their records and order the VA to produce the records within 20 days. [more]
Released 4/20/15 | Tags: Veteran's Benefits
NVLSP ISSUES TIPS TO HELP VETERANS SAFEGUARD DISABILITY BENEFITS, IN LIGHT OF VA’S NEW ADVERSARIAL PROCESS FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – April 8, 2015 WASHINGTON – A new rule by the Department of Veterans Affairs that became effective on March 24, 2015 ends much of the informal claims … [more]
Released 4/8/15 | Tags: Veteran's Benefits
American Legion, AMVETS, Military Order of the Purple Heart, the National Veterans Legal Services Program and the Vietnam Veterans of America ask court to declare VA rule eliminating informal claims unlawful
America’s leading veteran’s service organizations have filed a lawsuit against Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Robert A. McDonald seeking to stop the implementation of a new VA rule eliminating most informal VA claims and limiting the types of claims VA will adjudicate. The American Legion, AMVETS, the Military Order of the Purple Heart, the National Veterans Legal Services Program, and the Vietnam Veterans of America joined forces to file the lawsuit together. The lawsuit seeks to have VA’s new rule eliminating the most important part of the informal VA claims process, and limiting the types of inferred claims VA adjudicates, declared unlawful by the court. The case was filed in the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on March 20th and entered in the court docket yesterday.
[more]
Released 4/7/15 | Tags: Veteran's Benefits
Testimony for House Veterans Affairs Committee, Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs (DAMA)
Bart Stichman, co-founder and joint executive director of NVLSP, offers testimony on behalf of NVLSP on the veterans appeals process and offers five recommendations for Congress to improve the system. [more]
Released 1/22/15 | Tags: Testimony, Veteran's Benefits