March 2019 Monthly Brief

21 March 2019 Greetings!

In This Issue: TVC Volunteer & Mission Partner Appreciation Reception TVC National Volunteer CorpsSM Honored NASDVA Mid-Winter Conference TVC Volunteers Inspiring Pro BonoSM (VIP) - Katy Spicer & David Bean Executive Director's Corner - Farewell Message Notable News - Now Including Available Pro Bono CAVC Cases

RSVP Now for our Annual Spring TVC Volunteer & Mission Partner Appreciation Reception The TVC Volunteer and Mission Partner Reception is only 2 ½ weeks away! Don’t forget to RSVP and join us on Capitol Hill as we gather to enjoy each other’s company and recognize excellence in pro bono service to veterans and their families, caregivers, & survivors.

United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (USCAVC) Judicial Conference The United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (USCAVC) 14th Judicial Conference will take place 11–12 April 2019 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. This year's Conference theme is “Celebrating 30 Years”. The program will f ocus on the changing landscape of veterans law and will offer sessions that appeal to all who practice or have an interest in veterans law.

For more information or to register click here: CLICK HERE

TVC National Volunteer Corps Honored at NASDVA Mid-Winter Conference SM

Left to right: Ed Glabus (TVC), NASDVA President Lourdes "Alfie" Alvarado-Ramos, Secretary Francisco Urena (MA State Director), Steven L. Lieberman (Acting Principal Deputy Under Secretary for Health, Veterans Administration), Chris Tyson (Duane Morris), Kat McGee (Duane Morris) and Valentine Brown (Duane Morris), Dr. Vito Imbasciani (CA State Director)

Valentine Brown, a Partner at Duane Morris LLP and a member of our TVC National Volunteer Corps℠, was presented with a National Association of State Directors of Veterans Affairs (NASDVA) Certificate of Appreciation for her pro bono representation of a Marine Corps veteran, who served honorably from 1970-1993 and retired as a Gunnery Sergeant .

He was born in Germany in 1952 and moved to the U.S. in 1953 with his mother (a German citizen, who was naturalized) and his Father, a U.S. citizen and a Navy Veteran; but as a baby he had no citizenship documentation. After retirement,when he attempted to file for Social Security and Medicare benefits, he was told he was not a U.S. citizen and that he was ineligible.

As the veteran was in the process of moving from California to Massachusetts, State Directors of Veterans Affairs, Dr. Vito Imbasciani (CA) and Secretar y Francisco Urena (MA), reached out to The Veterans Consortium for assistance, and Valentine Brown, a member of our TVC Volunteer Corps℠, took the referral.

Ms. Brown meticulously gathered information and zealously advocated on behalf of this Veteran at his hearing, resulting in his naturalization at a swearingin ceremony and resultant benefits eligibility.

A heartfelt thank you to Valentine Brown and all of our dedicated volunteers for your service to veterans and their loved ones!

Left to right: NASDVA President Alfie Alvarado-Ramos, Ed Glabus (TVC), and John Hilgert (State Director of Nebraska)

TVC was pleased again to be a proud sponsor of the National Association of State Directors of Veterans Affairs Mid-Winter Conference in Alexandria, late VA inFebruary and to be invited to provide TVC staff subject matter experts to participate in several subcommittees. We were surprised and honored to be recognized by NASDVA President, Lourdes (“Alfie”) Alvarado-Ramos with a special certificate of appreciation for our support to NASDVA’s conference; its members comprising all 50 States, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands; and their resident veterans.

TVC Volunteers Inspiring Pro Bono (VIP) SM

Katherine A. Spicer, Esq.

Senior Associate, Squire Patton Boggs TVC National Volunteer CorpsSM

David R. Bean, Esq.

Associate, Squire Patton Boggs TVC National Volunteer CorpsSM

There’s a fine line between two groups of lawyers at Squire Patton Boggs who are assisting veterans by taking on pro bono cases to help with discharge upgrades as part of the TVC Discharge Upgrade Program℠. The line is defined as Army or Marine Corps. When associates sign on to help with a veteran’s case as part of the firm’s longstanding tradition of providing legal assistance without pay, they are assigned to a team.

The Marine Corps team is led by Katy Spicer, who served more than 14 years as an active duty Marine and is a Major in the Marine Corps Reser ves. The Army team has David Bean at the helm. Bean served five years of active duty service in the Army and is now an officer in the Virginia National Guard.

“We recognized the need and our ability to serve the need,” Spicer says of her firm’s work with veterans seeking a discharge upgrade. “We created this pipeline to bring as many attorneys to the table as possible.”

Bean says the Marine Corps/Army designation “started out playfully” when they realized several Army veterans were in his group and several Marine Corps veterans were in Spicer ’s group. Now the name tags have stuck. And while currently there is no actual competition between the two groups, they will certainly be cheering for each other as cases are decided.

For their efforts in devising such a unique workplace pro bono opportunity, attracting colleagues to also donate hours in service to veterans and for leading their Army and Marine Corps teams, Katy Spicer and David Bean have been selected as The Veterans Consortium Volunteers Inspiring Pro Bono (VIPs) for March 2019.

“We love the incredibly creative way that Katy and David have established teams and divided the workload on these cases,” says Danica Gonzalves, Equal Justice Works Fellow for TVC. “They have attorneys not just in Washington, D.C., but from Denver, San Francisco, New York, really all over the country, who are stepping up to help our veterans in need. We couldn't be happier to have them

as part of our TVC National Volunteer Corps SM.” Spicer grew up outside of Detroit, the fourth of six children. Although her parents were not in the militar y, Spicer and three brothers all served. After earning abachelor’s degree at Florida State University, she joined the Marine Corps shortly before 9/11. The terrorist attack on U.S. soil that day only proved to solidify her decision.

“If you’re going to do it you should do it with the best,” she says, adding that she always felt called to serve, and growing up, idolized Army Generals Colin Powell and Norman Schwartzkopf, Jr. “It was my time, my responsibility to step up.”

After working as a supply officer, Spicer was selected by the Marine Corps to study law, which she did at Michigan State University, before serving as a Marine Corps prosecutor. During her career, she deployed to Afghanistan and twice to Iraq. She feels a special dedication to fellow veterans who served in those same regions. Katy is a major in the Marine Corps Reserves and is the reserve staff judge advocate for Marine Corps Base Quantico.

“It was a special generation of service members from 2001 on,” Spicer says, adding that living through it first hand and seeing the sacrifices and commitment of these young people makes her work with these veterans today so much more rewarding. “It serves as a second calling to me. I’m in a position at this incredible law firm with all of its resources to step in and help them with their discharges and try to make it right.”

The case her team of 13 is currently working on involves a Marine who enlisted in the early 2000’s “as a very young kid.” He led combat patrols at the age of 20, took part in a heroic level of combat and witnessed the deaths of people close to him, Spicer says. Then, “the demons so many combat veterans suffer from led him to start self-medicating.”

He received an Other Than Honorable discharge, despite his efforts to get help and his well-documented struggles. “He’s shown incredible integrity throughout the whole thing. Even in spite of his own setbacks, he donates countless hours and boundless energy to veterans causes. He is a model American and a hard working citizen,” says Spicer, who lives in Washington, D.C. with her husband and 20-month-old son. “For our clients it’s not about restoring lost benefits, it’s about pride.”

David Bean’s team of 10 is tackling the case of an “incredibly decorated officer” who earned a commission after enlisting and served for 14 years. He spent 870 days deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan and now suffers from severe PostTraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

“He was one of the top security people for the top generals and admirals serving abroad,” Bean says, noting that his condition led him to stay in his stateside home for six months rather than move with his unit to a new station.

This resulted in his Other Than Honorable discharge after “a heck of an Army career,” Bean says, noting that the case is ready and will soon be filed for review and a decision.

Bean is a Kansas City, Missouri-native who grew up in Laguna Beach, California.

He headed east to study at Cornell University, where he received a bachelor ’s degree. He worked as a special education teacher for Teach for America in Washington, D.C. while earning a Master of Education at George Mason University. He received a law degree from Washington & Lee University before joining the Army. He served as an administrative law attorney and prosecutor while spending a majority of his Army career at Fort Hood, Texas.

“It had always been something I wanted to do,” says Bean, whose grandfathers served in World War II and who grew up near lots of military families serving at Camp Pendleton. “Our generation was highly forged by what happened on 9/11.”

Bean loved his Army years, but says he’s thrilled to be working with veterans in this capacity.

“It’s a great firm wide experience for us to support,” says Bean who lives in Vienna, Virginia with his wife. They are expecting a son in July.

Executive Director's Corner March is an exciting month for The Veterans Consortium. In addition to celebrating the first day of Spring (20 March), we take the opportunity to mark both Women Veterans History Month and Brain Injury Awareness Month, plus National Vietnam War Veterans Day (29 March).

And of course we are very busy with preparations for our annual Spring Volunteer & Mission Partner Appreciation Reception on 9 April during National Volunteer Week.

It is also exciting because change is in the air. This will be my last Executive Director’s Corner here at TVC. It has been an exhilarating four years, and I’m truly grateful for the opportunity to have served our nation’s veterans and their families, caregivers, and survivors.

I am also deeply thankful to our Executive Board, USCAVC, and LSC for their trust and for allowing me the privilege to lead TVC; to TVC’s amazingly dedicated and hard-working staff, helping veterans and professionally completing the myriad tasks necessary to run a thriving global pro bono program; to our mission partners and supporters, who make our operations possible; and to all the members of our TVC National Volunteer Corps℠, who take pro bono cases and do battle every day to secure access to justice for those who raised their right hands to defend our country.

Please join me in congratulating Jim Carlsen, who is stepping up as Executive Director. Jim began his tenure here about three years ago as a Senior Fellow in our TVC National Volunteer Corps , and then joined our staff as Director of Program Operations. He is the right person, at the right place and time, to lead TVC to accomplish even greater achievements. To learn more about Jim’s background, please click here.

Thank you all for your part in advancing TVC’s mission, and I hope we will see each other in the near future. While my time as a TVC staff member has run its course, like many of you I have enlisted in TVC’s National Volunteer Corps to continue to serve in a different way.

HOOAH and many blessings, Ed

Alternative Spring Break 2019

Left to right: Morgan Oliver and Caitlin Bozman

The Veterans Consortium Pro Bono Program was eager to invite local law students to participate in Alternative Spring Break (ASB), a part of our TVC Legal Scholars Program℠. Morgan Oliver, a 1L studying at The Columbus School of Law at The Catholic University of America (CUA Law), and Caitlin Bozman, a 3L at Georgetown University Law Center joined us for the week.

While many college students flock to the beach, participants of the ASB are provided the unique opportunity to volunteer for a local organization to get hands-on experience in their field of choice. Here at The Veterans Consortium, our volunteers received training on a wide range of legal issues from administrative law to appellate work before the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (CAVC).

Interested in learning more about the ASB program and volunteer opportunities for 2020? Contact TVC at outreach@vetsprobono.org .

NOTABLE NEWS Available Pro Bono CAVC Cases for our current ​TVC National Volunteer CorpsSM Click below to view our list of Available Pro Bono Cases in need of representation by a volunteer attorney. *Note: you must be a current volunteer who has taken our training and has been approved as a member on our website in order to log in and view the available cases.

For assistance, email volunteer@vetsprobono.org

Upcoming Training Sponsored By Pro Bono Representation Before the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (CAVC)Training 16 May 2019 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM Foster Pepper 1111 Third Avenue Seattle, WA 98101

REGISTER HERE For more information contact: Leigh Hillebrand at leigh.hillebrand@vetsprobono.org

TVC EXTERNSHIP TVC National Volunteer Corps℠ ℠ Member Featured in ​T he ABA Journal

Schiff Hardin partner and former Green Beret leads...

When one of Mir Ali's colleagues at Schiff Hardin contacted him last year to ask whether he thought the firm would be interested in joining a national network of attorneys providing pro bono legal assistance to veterans, Ali responded: "Absolutely."

Read more www.abajournal.com

OPPORTUNITIES!

TVC is seeking an extern to help us win federal appeals cases for our clients. This includes helping with militar y discharge upgrades ("bad paper" discharges) and assisting with determination of final outcomes of client cases. Externs will receive academic credit.

The extern will support full-time staff attorneys, volunteer attorneys, and clients who appeal to, or receive a remand from the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, the Federal Circuit, and the Supreme Court. The selected extern will assist in the full lifecycle of case management, from intake to research and strategy, to Court mandate and follow-up, to determine real-world results and impact.

Although any student may apply, we give priority to rising 3L students.

We are open to externships that count for either one course per semester, or two courses per semester, depending on your law school's current arrangements and preference.

Please address the following questions in your cover letter:

Why do you want to work in the area of veterans law?

What is your motivation to work with veterans and their families, caregivers, or survivors?

What sets you apart from other candidates?

SUBMIT A COVER LETTER AND RESUME detailing your interest and motivation to Courtney Smith, Courtney.Smith@vetsprobono.org . You may also contact Courtney for answers to questions or additional information.

FIND OUT MORE

Contact Us | Donate Today