Introduction of the Veterans Legal Support Act of 2019

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, today, I introduce the Veterans Legal Support Act of 2019, which would allow the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to provide support to law school clinical programs that provide pro bono legal and support services to veterans, including assistance with disability claims and appeals and foreclosures. There are already at least 22 law schools that have clinics devoted to veterans' legal needs, including the William & Mary Law School Veterans Benefits Clinic, which serves as a national model for this idea and was the first recipient of a ``best practice'' certification from the VA. There are many other law schools, such as the University of the District of Columbia's David A. Clarke School of Law, that are interested in starting their own VA-certified clinics.

More than 400,000 veterans are waiting for their disability claims to be processed by the VA. With the assistance of lawyers and law professors, clinical programs provide free legal resources to assist veterans in processing their claims. My bill would merely build on what some law schools have begun to do for the last several years. More needs to be done to sustain and increase these programs.

I was a tenured professor of law and continued to teach one seminar after being elected to Congress. I saw the expert assistance that clinical programs provide.

I urge my colleagues to support this bill, a concrete measure that would assist our veterans, who have repeatedly put their lives on the line for this country.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source