How Veterans Can Access Free Legal Help Through the West Virginia Law Clinic

0:06Leah Bucholz Hey, guys. It's Leah Bucholz Prestige Veteran Medical Consulting. I'm a US Army veteran, physician assistant, and former compensation and pension examiner. So today, have my friend Ash on, and and we're gonna talk about a really awesome topic. If you guys don't know Ash, Ash Talbot has been here before, and she's gonna tell you guys a little bit about herself.

0:24 But we're gonna talk about the free league legal clinic options, free veterans law clinics that West Virginia has, and she may touch a little bit on some of the other state, you know, options that are out there. But, Ash, do you mind telling telling the viewers that don't know you about yourself?

0:41Ash Talbott Yeah. Sure. I'm the codirector of the West Virginia University Veterans Legal Advocacy Clinic at College of Law at WU.

0:50Leah Bucholz Okay. How long have you been working there?

0:53Ash Talbott For five years now.

0:55Leah Bucholz Okay. And you're one of the I know we talked about this before in our last video together, but for those folks that that haven't seen you, you were the first accredited claims agent in the state of West Virginia. And you've been doing veterans law for a number of years. Right? About twenty years.

1:12 And you're a military veteran?

1:13Ash Talbott I'm a military veteran. K. I was an claims agent before I was a military veteran.

1:19Leah Bucholz Oh, I didn't even know that.

1:21Ash Talbott Yeah. I joined after law school.

1:24Leah Bucholz Okay. That's awesome. Well, thank you for being here. So we wanted to kinda just talk about some of those resources and some of the things that you guys help veterans about with. So can you tell me, what a free legal clinic for veterans is and what type of services do you guys provide?

1:41Ash Talbott So pro bono clinics for veterans, take many shapes. But our our clinic, we do everything from family wall to housing support to disability support income assistance. We'll do wills, powers attorneys, estates. Whatever a veteran needs, we're gonna help them with.

2:04Leah Bucholz That's awesome. And and for those of you guys that haven't seen it, few weeks ago, we had a video about specifically about the, housing assistance, area of expertise that that that the law clinic provides assistance with. So if you haven't seen that, please go check it out. But, what inspired your law school to create a legal clinic for veterans?

2:23Ash Talbott Yeah. The need in West Virginia is so great. We're one of the highest percentage states as far as veteran communities goes. We have over 14,000,000 veterans in the state of West Virginia.

2:37Leah Bucholz That that is wild, especially considering probably the population, like, when you look at the ratio. Right? Yeah. It's crazy. So I know you mentioned it before, and we talked about it on the last video.

2:49 But, can you, one more time, just tell everybody the types of legal assistance you guys provide, besides just VA claims?

2:58Ash Talbott Oh, yeah. We do we do everything. We we'll do everything but criminal law. Let let's caveat. Everything but criminal law.

3:06 We'll do family law. We'll do housing. We'll do divorces, child support Mhmm. Wills, estates, bankruptcies. Bankruptcies are a great way to really provide a benefit to people.

3:23Leah Bucholz Okay. What about civil litigation? Do you guys get involved much with that? Or

3:27Ash Talbott Sometimes. Yeah. We've we've got several solar panel cases right now.

3:31Leah Bucholz Oh my. Okay. So some civil litigation, I I imagine it's gotta be screened, you guys gotta vet it and decide if it's a case y'all wanna take, of course. Discharge upgrades?

3:43Ash Talbott Discharge upgrades.

3:45Leah Bucholz K. What about for reservists and national guardsmen? Do you guys help them with, like, their MEBs and things like that?

3:51Ash Talbott Yeah. We'll do them we'll do that with them for sure. ID IDE process. I CRSC, CIDRP, all all of it. We'll do all of it.

4:08Leah Bucholz That's awesome. And did the did the attorneys did the students what percentage would you say stick with with veterans law? Do they all, or or is it kinda like they just get their feet wet and see if they like it?

4:24Ash Talbott The the majority get their feet wet and see if they like it. I've got one excellent student who's in the field now. Her name's Maddie. Mhmm. She's a rock.

4:36 She's absolutely awesome, and she's gonna be a fantastic veterans attorney.

4:40Leah Bucholz That's awesome.

4:41Ash Talbott So she'll she'll she'll be at for long haul.

4:44Leah Bucholz Yeah. Well, I'm sure with your mentorship, the ones that stick with it really, are probably very passionate about Veterans Law because I know you are for sure. So can you tell me a little bit more about who's eligible to receive services through the clinic?

4:59Ash Talbott So with our clinic, the great thing is just about anybody's eligible. Mhmm. We've got a combination of grants and donor funded, money so we can spread it around, and we can help just about anybody that we come across. Mhmm.

5:19Leah Bucholz How well, so how does the process work when a vet veteran first decides to reach out for assistance?

5:24Ash Talbott We have an online web portal that they will do an an application through. And from there, student attorneys will vet the application and do follow ups Mhmm. Or a director or, you know, staff member will.

5:44Leah Bucholz What are what are some of the most common legal challenges veterans come to your clinic with?

5:51Ash Talbott Most common they come to our clinic with is disability, assistance.

5:57Leah Bucholz How many attorneys, or law students do you feel like is it per semester they rotate out, or are they with you for, like, a a year? Or

6:05Ash Talbott We have them for a whole year. We have them for the whole third year.

6:08Leah Bucholz Okay.

6:09Ash Talbott And so and we'll we'll have any number of students. We I our top class was 12, and our smallest class is five.

6:19Leah Bucholz Okay. That's awesome. So what I guess, how does your clinic help veterans who are struggling with VA disability claims or appeals? What do you guys what do you guys do? Do you help I mean, I know that typically claims agents and attorneys don't really help with initial claims, but since you guys aren't, like, charging fees and things like that

6:41Ash Talbott We help with initial claims. We we have found a definite area for us. Initial claims are great for legal clinics. Mhmm. We don't charge fees so we can help with benefits delivered on discharge for folks who are getting out, contemplating getting out, and they've served their twenty years.

7:06 We can do initial claims for folks who just never applied before because they didn't know they could. Because as you know, that's the number one hurdle to getting into veterans disability is you don't even know you're eligible.

7:20Leah Bucholz Do you guys feel like you you have a lot of BSOs in the community that outreach to y'all for assistance, or is there not you know? I'm sure if some of them knew about y'all, they would be, like, breaking the breaking the doors down to try to get some help from you and some education and things.

7:36Ash Talbott You you you think we we do a large amount of community outreach and education. We do things like educating on claim sharks, prohibited practices Mhmm. Illegal fees, things that, you know, veterans should be leery of and things that they should be warned of. Mhmm.

7:58Leah Bucholz So what are some misconceptions, some of the biggest misconceptions that veterans might have about seeking free legal assistance?

8:06Ash Talbott Well, it's not free.

8:09Leah Bucholz Yeah.

8:09Ash Talbott There's a salary being provided. Trust me.

8:12Leah Bucholz Sure.

8:16Ash Talbott These services aren't free. They come at a cost, and there is a cost an opportunity cost for every client we take on. There is another opportunity cost for a client that we can't take on. So we have to use and evaluate those resources thoroughly and expeditiously.

8:34Leah Bucholz So when you say they're not free, we mean obviously, we're meaning that it's coming from donor fund. It's coming it's being funded somewhere. But most veterans do the veterans that come to your clinic is there is there is it, like, subsidized, or is it completely free, or is it case by case that maybe you give them a break?

8:53Ash Talbott Completely free.

8:55Leah Bucholz Are they able to donate back if they feel

8:59Ash Talbott They can.

8:59Leah Bucholz Okay. Yeah. And I'm I'm sure that's especially appreciated on some of those cases that are, like, claims related where maybe they they do have the ability to get some some, money in their pocket, and they can they can, pass that along to the next veteran. You know?

9:16Ash Talbott Exactly. And that's what we we definitely encourage that as well even if it's only 5%. You know? This is still far cheaper than paying an attorney for the service, and it does help a veteran in the future.

9:31Leah Bucholz For sure. So what should a veteran bring or prepare for before reaching out to the to a legal clinic like yours?

9:39Ash Talbott Get your documents in order. You know, we're we're gonna need your discharge documents. We're gonna need whatever sort of assistance you're requesting. Like, are you looking for disability information? Are you looking for housing information?

9:56 Those are very different realms. So, you know, if you have your if you have your stuff in a row, then we can have ours better in a row and better prepared to come at you with solutions. Mhmm.

10:10Leah Bucholz And and I know you guys mostly help veterans in West Virginia. We talked previously about how you have, you know, reached outside of Virginia or, I'm sorry, West Virginia on occasion. But we're gonna put your contact info in the in the data on this video so people can reach out to you, and you may be able to point them every state. Does every state have a veterans clinic like this, or do most states?

10:35Ash Talbott Most states have veterans clinics.

10:37Leah Bucholz Especially the bigger ones, I'm sure. Right?

10:39Ash Talbott The bigger law schools have veterans clinics. That's you know? So

10:43Leah Bucholz some states may have even more than one.

10:48Ash Talbott Some states may have multiple. That's awesome. Michigan, I believe, has multiple veterans clinics in the state. Mhmm.

10:58Leah Bucholz That's that's wonderful. I I I know I worked with one out of Florida too. I'm sure there's more than one in Florida. But

11:05Ash Talbott Stetson's the big one in Florida.

11:07Leah Bucholz Yeah. I think I I've worked with them a handful of times. So so lastly, for veterans that are feeling overwhelmed, I know this is a big piece of it. So veterans feel overwhelmed or they're embarrassed or were sort of taught to suck it up and just deal with it and and not reach out for help and kinda be hesitant to ask for help, what would you want them to know?

11:30Ash Talbott Don't be embarrassed. Reach out. We're here for a reason. We wanna help. The students, especially, they wanna do something good with their last year of law school, and they see it as that.

11:43Leah Bucholz I'm sure they're very passionate to kind of make a difference and and help, especially in those green years that that they're in and really get after it.

11:53Ash Talbott Yeah. And it's a lot more fun to be in a clinical environment than to be in a classroom.

12:02Leah Bucholz That's that's awesome. I I really hope that I get to either come visit with y'all one semester or at least do some kind of video chat with the students and and get to meet them. So thank you for being here with us today. You are so knowledgeable. You're such a great advocate for veterans, and I appreciate everything you do and for your service and all that kind of stuff.

12:24 So

12:25Ash Talbott Well, we appreciate what you do, Leah. Trust me.

12:28Leah Bucholz Well, thank you. So veterans out there, if you guys are watching, please drop some comments if you have any questions or any feedback or any of your own historical stuff dealing with Veterans Law Clinics that you wanna share. Anyone that wants to get ahold of Ash, we're gonna have Ash's contact information in the description. And as always, thank you for watching, and please like and subscribe. And we'll see you guys next time.