Pro-bono lawyers battle for wounded veterans with PTSD

Advocates for Vets


New York Lawyer
October 26, 2007

By Thomas Adcock
New York Law Journal

The City Bar Justice Center, the pro bono affiliate of the New York City Bar Association, launched the Veterans Legal Clinic this week in concert with attorneys from 10 Manhattan firms.

The new program will provide free counsel to low-income men and women returned home to the metropolitan area from wars in Afghanistan and Iraq - some of whom are homeless, and many suffering from severe physical and mental health problems.

One of a handful of such clinics around the country, the New York initiative was established in response to the anticipated needs of returnees from the "most sustained combat operations since the Vietnam era," as conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan were characterized in a joint statement by two New York state Assembly committees that held fact-finding public hearings in May.

The committees on mental health and veterans affairs said further in their statement that today's military personnel have especially high rates of post-traumatic stress disorder due to "lengthy and multiple tours of duty, decreased mortality rates and traumatic brain injuries."

Left untreated, post-traumatic stress disorder could lead to "devastating ramifications, including unemployment, substance abuse, homelessness or involvement with the criminal justice system," according to the statement.

On Wednesday afternoon, nearly 100 private firm volunteer lawyers gathered at city bar headquarters on West 44th Street for a three-hour training session in the fundamentals of Veterans Benefits Administration law and practical tips on filing for disability benefits.
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