The Practising Law Institute is offering a free webcast entitled Advocating for Veterans - the Basics on Benefits, Discharge Upgrades and Cultural Competency on May 6, 2011 at 9:00 am Pacific/12:00 pm Eastern. This is a webcast of the live seminar being presented in San Francisco.

Why you should attend

Medical and financial assistance are available to men and women who have served in our military, but some who can qualify are not receiving the benefits that they need. Attorneys can assist veterans with the problems that preclude them from receiving benefits:

• Veterans are not aware of the benefits to which they are entitled
   
• Injuries, both mental and physical, are not "connected to service" by a proper paper trail
   
• Some were discharged dishonorably for behaviors that were related to post traumatic stress or for being gay, and the status of their discharge makes them ineligible for benefits

Each of these problems will be addressed during Advocating for Veterans.

What you will learn

Attend the morning session to become accredited to practice before the Veterans Administration, (after submitting a form to and obtaining accreditation from the Veterans Administration). Attorneys and other advocates who become accredited will be listed on a national VA list, and are entitled to represent veterans in their appeals for benefits, on a pro bono basis, and for attorney's fees, where they are available.

The first afternoon session, from 1:30 to 2:30 pm Pacific, Veterans' Cultural Competency: Combat to Community will help veterans' advocates to understand the challenges that veterans face in their transition to a noncombat community.

The 2:45 to 5:00 pm Pacific session will provide attorneys with the tools that they need to assist veterans in upgrading their discharge status, so that they can qualify for the veterans' benefits that they have earned. Attorneys can help upgrade the discharge status of men and women who were dishonorably discharged from military service for being gay or for behavior that can be attributed to PTSD.

Who should attend

Attorneys and advocates who plan to assist veterans in obtaining benefits on a pro bono basis, and those who hope to expand their practice areas to include veterans' cases where fees are available, should register for one or more of the sessions.

This program is being presented free. Live web registrants will be able to download the course handbook 24 hours before the program.

CLE Credit:

This program has bee approved for 6 substantive law credits in Pennsylvania for persons attending the live presentation in person.

In Pennsylvania, a live webcast may be viewed individually or in a group setting. Credit may be granted to an attorney who views a live webcast individually, but there is a 4.0 credit limit per year for this type of viewing. See details from PA CLE Board. 

A live webcast viewed in a group setting receives live participatory credit if the program is open to the public and advertised at least 30 days prior to the program. Live webcasts viewed in a group setting that do not advertise at least 30 days prior the program will be considered "in-house", and therefore denied credit.

More Information, Agenda and Registration