The Washington, D.C. office of Foley & Lardner LLP is partnering with the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) to provide pro bono legal representation for injured war veterans at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, according to Steve Lambert, chair of the office’s Pro Bono Committee.
The project, which includes two other law firms as well, will assist those who need help in navigating the complicated military disability evaluation and rating system. According to the DAV, investigative reports have revealed a significant number of cases where the U.S. military appears to have assigned low disability ratings to service members with serious injuries and thus avoided paying them full military disabled retirement benefits.
“I applaud the efforts of our D.C. Pro Bono Committee. We look forward to this partnership with DAV and in exploring ways to broaden it to include all of our offices nationwide,” said Ed Baxa, chair of the firm’s National Pro Bono Legal Services Committee. “Clearly, no representation can be more unifying than representation of our returning wounded soldiers, who have given so much for our Nation and its values.”
This partnership was announced at a DAV – sponsored news conference on June 6 at the National Press Club in D.C.
In Steve’s remarks at the press conference, he stated: “The professionals at Foley take our responsibility for pro bono and community service very seriously. We are excited to be part of this very worthwhile endeavor and will strive to provide representation of the highest quality to folks who have, by their dedication and service to our nation, sacrificed so much.”
The organizational aspects of this project will be headed by George Quillin, a partner in the Intellectual Property Department in the D.C. Office. He will be ably assisted in this work by Courtenay Brinckerhoff, Mary Calkins and Jeremy Edwards, also of the D.C. office. In addition, Dick Stoll will lead a group analyzing certain APA-related issues pertaining to the disability criteria used by the military in these situations.
The DAV, a non-profit organization founding in 1920 and chartered by the U.S. Congress in 1932, has 1.3 million members. The DAV is dedicated to a single purpose: building better lives for disabled veterans and their families. You can find more information about DAV at its web site, which is www.dav.org.