William & Mary legal clinic to help vets with benefits

WILLIAMSBURG

It won't be up and running for another two months, but the College of William and Mary's law school used Veterans Day to announce the creation of a veterans benefits clinic.

The clinic, to be staffed by eight students and two professors from the college's Marshall-Wythe School of Law, will help those injured during military service navigate the often-cumbersome process of applying for disability benefits from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. It will also assist veterans appealing the denial of benefits or seeking an increase in disability compensation.

It takes the VA six months to process a disability claim, and appeals can stretch on for years, law school Dean Lynda L. Butler said during a short ceremony Tuesday. Butler noted that Virginia has 28 military installations, and Hampton Roads is home to a large veteran population.

"There is plenty of work to be done," she said.

Patricia Roberts, a professor who directs the law school's clinical programs, used the occasion to invoke the words of Abraham Lincoln at his second inaugural address in March 1865:

"Let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan."

The clinic will offer more than just legal advice. In partnership with Virginia Commonwealth University, it will refer veterans who may need counseling for post-traumatic stress disorder, substance abuse and family relationships to VCU's Center for Psychological Services and Development.

The law clinic will be led by adjunct law professors Stacey-Rae Simcox and Mark D. Matthews. The couple, who are married, served in the Army's judge advocate general corps after earning law degrees from William and Mary in 1999.

Simcox, who pitched the idea for a veterans clinic last year, said the goal isn't just helping former military members. The clinic will expose law students to the specialized field of veterans disability law. Students will also educate local veterans groups about disability claims.

Simcox said fewer than a dozen law schools across the nation have veterans benefits clinics, and she thinks William and Mary is the first to offer legal assistance in conjunction with mental health assessments and counseling.

Startup costs are being borne by the schools, but Simcox said the clinic will need private funding to expand. She hopes to attract a network of attorneys willing to work pro bono with veterans on other legal issues. McGuireWoods, a law firm with offices in Richmond and Norfolk, will accept referrals and provide meeting space for clients who can't travel to Williamsburg, college officials said.

The clinic will begin accepting applications from potential clients Jan. 12. To learn more about the program, veterans or their family members can call (757) 221-3780 or email veterans@wm.edu.

Kate Wiltrout, (757) 446-2629, kate.wiltrout@pilotonline.com