Legal questions, answered
10/21/2016
Emeritus Professor Tom Reed and student Lindsey Procida assist a veteran.
A new public service project that helps disabled veterans get their legal questions answered also gives law students a valuable opportunity to build professional skills and learn more about veterans law.
Through the “Military Mondays” program, Veterans Law Clinic staff attorneys and student interns conduct sit-down meetings with veterans in need of advice, at no cost. Using space provided by Starbucks, school attorneys and students answer veterans’ questions about their claims for benefits through the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs.
The program began operating one Monday a month this fall out of a Starbucks in the Wilmington Nemours Building.
“A lot of times the VA system is overwhelming,” student Lindsey Procida said. “They get these pieces of paper and they read them and don’t know what to do.”
Procida and fellow student Mike Routh volunteered to help staff the first Military Mondays event, with Veterans Law Clinic Director Amber Baylor and Emeritus Professor Thomas J. Reed. Both students are interns in the Veterans Law Clinic. Procida helped organize the appointments for the program and she sat alongside Reed for four meetings.
“It was nice to get that face to face,” she said of the experience, adding she learned a lot from hearing Reed’s thought processes and explanations of how the VA operates.
Routh said he felt good that the Military Mondays event was able to provide a lot information veterans needed. He wished the clinic could take on some of the veterans as clients, but Military Mondays is about dispensing advice and information in a casual atmosphere outside of a formal client relationship.
“It was a good experience,” said Routh, who is studying law as new professional path, after a career trading futures. His said his work in the Veterans Law Clinic has been a valuable experience.
“I never knew this branch of law existed. It’s been a real eye opener in a big way,” he said.
The next Military Mondays events will be held Nov. 14 and Dec. 5. All meetings are by appointment between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. Appointments can be made by contacting Denise Paul, office manager of the Veterans Law Clinic, at 302.477.2056 or [email protected].