SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (IRN) — A new partnership with the Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs has been established to provide free legal services to veterans who are denied disability compensation.
When veterans need to appear in court to appeal a decision rejecting them for disability benefits, an attorney from the National Veterans Legal Services Program will represent them at no cost.
Anthony Vaughn, assistant director of the Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs, told The Center Square that the goal is to ensure fairness in the disability benefits arena.
“NVLSP will review denied claims, using their legal expertise and knowledge of the benefits process,” Vaughn said. “The veteran has the right to secure their own legal counsel, but NVLSP attorneys will represent them free of charge.”
The NVLSP was founded in 1981 to defend the rights of veterans at the highest legal level. NVLSP attorneys have extensive training as legal advocates for veterans. That training is “invaluable” when veterans take a case to court, Vaughn said.
As a state agency, IDVA does not represent veterans in court, Vaughn said. The partnership with NVLSP gives Illinois veterans free access to an attorney who will stand by them when their appeal is heard by the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, Vaughn said.
The first step in the process is a review of the case by NVLSP. If NVLSP decides there are grounds to go before the CAVC, NVLSP will reach out to the veteran and offer their services free of charge.
“Veterans have every right to file a claim,” Vaughn said. “We will do everything we can, within our power, to get them the benefits that they have earned.”
Both the IDVA and the NVLSP will help veterans to collect the evidence they need to make their case before the court. Sometimes the evidence does not support the claim, Vaughn said.
“As a state agency, we make sure … that we don’t leave any stone unturned,” he said.
The partnership with NVLSP is just one more way that IDVA is giving veterans “the highest quality of service,” he said.
By ZETA CROSS for the Illinois Radio Network