Pro bono. Veteran Lawyers

• Author: Stephanie Zimmermann
• Pages: 16-17

PRO BONO

Veteran

Lawyers

Attorneys lend skills

to help current and

former service members

BY STEPHANIE ZIMMERMANN

When attorney Timothy L.

McHugh, a retired Army

paratrooper, meets with a

veteran to discuss a frus-

trating medical bene ts issue or a con-

founding GI Bill problem, he can relate.

For McHugh, who co-chairs the

Veterans Pro Bono Program at Hunton

Andrews Kurth in Richmond, Virginia,

his own experience as an enlisted soldier

gives him insight into the tribulations

veterans and service members can face.

When he left the Army after two

tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan , he

had to make sure he got U.S. Depart-

ment of Veteran Affairs compensation to

get hearing aids for his blown eardrum.

When he returned to college, he had

to carefully manage his GI Bill funds

to save enough money for law school.

“I had to navigate VA stuff on my own

while still being in college,” McHugh

says. “It was a trial by  re. I  gured that

out pretty quick.”

He says that experience is partly why

he became a lawyer.

“I thought, how are other veterans,

particularly those dealing with signi -

cant health issues, supposed to  gure this

out and persevere through the system

repeatedly telling them no? I knew then

that I wanted to help veterans in their

legal  ghts against the system.”

Now an attorney focused on envi-

ronmental regulation, McHugh rep-

resents clients in enforcement actions

and rule-makings. Being able to wade

through complex government regula-

tions helps with pro bono veterans work.

One of his current cases, Rudisill v.

Wilkie, a  ght over how GI Bill bene ts

should be calculated, went before the

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Feder-

al Circuit in December and is being

watched for its potential impact on

educational payments for some of the

nation’s longest-serving veterans. Plain-

tiff Jim Rudisill, a decorated combat

veteran who served two separate periods

in the Army, argued that the way the VA

calculated his use of two different GI

Bills shorted him 12 months of expected

educational bene ts.

It’s estimated that 1.7 million veter-

ans could be in a similar situation, with

their collective bene ts worth potentially

billions of dollars.

McHugh is one of thousands of

attorneys nationwide who volunteer

to help active-duty service members or

veterans with legal problems that range

from consumer disputes and family law

matters to complicated issues involving

medical and college bene ts. Some are

veterans themselves; others just want to

give back to current and former service

members, many of whom have little

income. And active-duty members may

be stationed far from a courtroom and

doing dangerous work.

Those who assist them say the

clients are grateful to have someone

guiding them.

“I think you will never  nd a client

that is more appreciative of your time

and effort than a veteran,” says Aniela

Szymanski, senior director for legal af-

fairs and military policy at Veterans Edu-

cation Success, a nonpro t that provides

free legal help and advocacy work.

Szymanski, a Marine Corps reservist

herself, says typical GI Bill cases include

a vet getting a surprise bill from his or

her college at graduation or  nding out

the VA made an overpayment and is

clawing back thousands of dollars.

Veterans often feel helpless trying to

navigate the government bureaucracy,

she says. “A lot of times, they don’t even

National Pulse edited by

BLAIR CHAVIS

blair.chavis@americanbar.org

Army veteran Timothy L. McHugh did

tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Photos courtesy of Timothy L. McHugh; Hunton Andrews Kurth; Sara Wadford/Shutterstock

ABA JOURNAL | APRIL–MAY 2021

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