Publications:
NVLSP Publications
Veterans Benefits Manual 2009
Get an insider's view of the Department of Veterans Affairs!
This exhaustive manual is an indispensable guide for advocates who help veterans and their families obtain benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Written by practicing attorneys at the National Veterans Legal Services Program, this manual contains valuable insight and analysis from a team of experts at the forefront of veterans law. Use our first-hand experience fighting for veterans' rights and our insider's view of the Department of Veterans Affairs to get all the benefits your clients have rightfully earned.
User-friendly, well-indexed, and packed with practical information, it includes sample forms and briefs, flowcharts, checklists, citations to legal authorities, and other documents designed to streamline the claims process and save you and your veteran client valuable time.
The Veterans Benefits Manual contains dozens of effective, battle-tested advocacy tips for veterans and advocates, along with all the latest developments in veterans law, including:
- Information about the new VA regulations governing the behavior of attorneys, agents and service officers;
- New information and advocacy advice on how to obtain service connection for the residuals of traumatic brain injury (TBI);
- Discussion of the proposed VA rules for determining the appropriate disability rating for TBI;
- Updated information and advice on how to obtain military service records;
- Analysis of VA's new rules governing when and how an attorney or agent may charge a VA claimant a fee for representation before the VA;
- Advice on how to avoid losing your VA accreditation as a service officer because you submitted a frivolous claim or argument;
- Information about VA's new Expedited Claims Adjudication initiative, a pilot program to streamline the appeals process and put the veteran on the fast track from initial claim to adjudication;
- New advice on when it is too late to file a notice of disagreement;
- When VA may be obligated to obtain a medical opinion to substantiate a dependency and indemnity compensation (DIC) claim;
- Analysis of the sweeping rule changes made by the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims governing how the record is created, and e-filing;
- The new legislation allowing some veterans to receive both military longevity or disability retirement pay and VA disability compensation;
- The Veterans Health Administration's new responsibilities to veterans with TBI, including its "Traumatic Brain Injury Veterans Health Registry";
- New procedures to help service members have an easier transition from DOD to VA health care;
- New rules providing for an extension of enhanced health care eligibility for combat veterans;
- New rules allowing VA to provide health care to family members of recovering service members receiving care at a VA medical facility;
- The revised VA travel reimbursement rates that apply to some veterans receiving VA health care, including those traveling for treatment of a service-connected disability.
Barton F. Stichman, Co-Director of and lead litigator for NVLSP, has earned over $100 million in VA benefits for his clients over the last 29 years.
Ronald B. Abrams, Co-Director of NVLSP and a 17-year VA insider. Over the past 18 years he has trained thousands of veterans' advocates.
SELECTED CONTENTS
- Part I: Disability Benefits for Veterans
- Part II: VA Benefits For Non-Veterans
- Part III: Rules Affecting the Amount of Benefits Paid
- Part IV: VA Health Care and Other Benefits
- Part V: The VA Claims Adjudication Process
- Part VI: Advocacy on Behalf of VA Claimants
- Part VII: Correction of Military Records
Here's everything you need to prepare for practice at the VA Regional Office, the Board of Veterans' Appeals and the Court of Appeals for Veterans' Claims.
Click here to order at Lexis-Nexis.
The Veterans Advocate
For the past 20 years, NVLSP has been publishing The Veterans Advocate (TVA), a veterans law advocacy journal that covers current developments in veterans law.
Published quarterly journal and delivered via PDF, TVA provides in-depth analyses of issues affecting veterans' benefits entitlement, including practical advice and advocacy tips for those representing veterans and their dependents.