Law students get training in Veterans Court

By John Minnis Legal News University of Detroit Mercy School of Law students working in the school's veterans' clinics may find themselves taking cases all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. While the likelihood of reaching the high court is unknown, it is a possibility. The potential came about with the creation of the Veterans Appellate Clinic at the UDM law school. The new clinic will represent low-income veterans who have cases pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. The Veterans Court, or CAVC, is an independent federal court of record created in 1988. Prior to the court, veterans as far back as the Civil War had no judicial recourse if denied benefits by the Department of Veterans Affairs, its Regional Office or its Board of Veterans' Appeals. Now, with the help of UDM law students and supervising faculty and attorneys, veterans can appeal to the CAVC, and if not successful there, to the federal courts all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States. Since 68 percent of new appellants to the Veterans Court are representing themselves, the need for a pro bono clinic is crucial, said Tammy Kudialis, director of UDM's Project SALUTE, the school's mobile veterans law clinic. "It is a completely adversarial system at the court," she said of the CAVC. "These veterans are going up against general counsel alone." As in the Veterans Law Clinic, second- and third-year law students in the Veterans Appellate Clinic will interview clients, conduct research, draft briefs and argue claims. "They will be doing pretty much everything," Kudialis said. "We're hoping to have oral arguments before the court." Since the CAVC sits in Washington, D.C., UDM law students may be making trips to the nation's capital. The Veterans Court can sit anywhere, and in the coming year it plans to convene twice in different cities. One of those locations will be in Detroit - at the UDM School of Law, no less. The honor is due to Kudialis' networking and diligence. "We basically persisted," she said, "and we asked." The UDM Veterans Law Clinic typically represents veterans before the VA, its Regional Office and its Board of Appeals. The Veterans Appellate Clinic takes over when the case must be appealed to the CAVC. "Going to court is really the final step in the process," Kudialis said. Since UDM started its Veterans Law Clinic and Project SALUTE, a 31-foot RV outfitted as a law office, students, attorneys and faculty have advised more than 800 veterans in Michigan and more than 3,000 nationally. The clinics have also trained more than 300 attorneys locally and more than 1,000 across the country in representing veterans. Kudialis said veterans' issues "run the gamut," from denial of disability and pension benefits to back injuries and Agent Orange to veterans' widows. "We believe it's important not only to provide this service to those who have served our country," she said, "but to educate and train our students to practice before the CAVC so our veterans can rely on them in the future as well." Published: Tue, Jun 22, 2010

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