good afternoon and welcome to cck live um with me this afternoon is christine clemons managing
attorney at chisholm chisholm and kilpatrick my name is robert chisholm i'm a founding partner
at chisholm chisholm kilpatrick and today we are going to be addressing the question do va
disability attorneys delay your claim so we're going to start with a little bit of an overview
throughout the last 30 years that we've been practicing law before the va the va disability
system has had backlogs at every stage and now despite the promise of the ama that is 125 days
to a decision all legacy cases were supposed to be eliminated by 2022 the backlog is bigger
than ever this means that hundreds of thousands of veterans must continue to await their rightfully
owed back pay and benefits from the va va disability back pay is the money owed to veterans
from the effective date of their claim to the date they were granted those benefits
so first of all we're going to talk about the backlog recap as most veterans are aware
there continues to be massive delays in the processing of claims and appeals and christine
i'd like to turn it over to you to sort of explain where we are in 2022 yeah so as of january 16
2022 there are a total of 201 933 appeals pending at the board of veterans appeals so almost 202
000 uh did you say wait did you say 200 000 cases pending appeals pending at the board
i said 200 almost 202 000 robert um yeah it's a massive number of appeals pending at the board
of veterans appeals we are now well into the ama which was meant to reduce the backlog um
some of the appeals that are pending at the board are in the legacy system so about 116
969 almost 117 000 of those appeals that are pending are in ama they're in the new
appeal system um and just under 85 000 appeals are pending um that are pending at the board are
in the legacy system so essentially this backlog is comprised both of appeals in the new system ama
and in the legacy system for more details on the backlog you can read on our website
we have information on that board of veterans appeals bva docket delays so we have more
specific information on those but because of this immense backlog va can often take
months or even years to grant benefits what this means is that many veterans worry that
hiring an attorney to help with their claim might further slow down this already delayed process
so let's ask the question christine do va disability lawyers delay
a claim no the disability lawyers do not delay your claim hiring an attorney does not delay
your claim uh choosing the wrong attorney could um but the really the wait times that veterans
are experiencing are due to issues within the va system in addition to challenges that are
presented by the ongoing pandemic claims are taking longer to process due to cnp exam
backlogs mail delays record request delays the bva backlog that we just talked about especially
in the hearing lane we've also talked about hearings and whether they're a good idea
they're really contributing to this backlog and the addition of new presumptive conditions
specifically those related to um exposure to agent orange bluewater navy act
um and those presumptives related to gulf war
have added claims and appeals to this backlog okay do attorneys speed up the claim
well uh you know while an attorney cannot speed up the process the decision process itself they may
be able to help a veteran develop a stronger claim or appeal to get a more favorable decision the
first time around so if we're just talking about moving quickly um they're not going to speed it up
but if we're talking about moving accurately or more precisely um you know an attorney an
accredited attorney or representative can um help with getting the right result so let's talk about
ways that an attorney can facilitate having the record fully developed and making choices that
might move the claim faster through the process so let's first of all you mentioned bva hearings talk
about that a little bit yeah so um we typically avoid bva hearings because they take longer
they take longer to schedule um they have uh transcription has to happen with the hearings um
and they may not add anything substantively to a case other than delay so we typically do avoid
hearings and instead submit the evidence that you would otherwise um obtain at that hearing we would
submit that evidence to support the claim and the simple reality is when it comes to hearings
if if you have to schedule hearing that takes time and as you said the uh the transcription of the
hearing takes time as opposed to just submitting the evidence in writing in the form of say
a written statement an affidavit um and then the va the bva can just decide the issue quicker
okay um there are some cases that can be expedited which means they can be moved faster through
the process can you talk about those sure so in situations where a veteran is terminally ill age
75 or older facing severe financial hardship for example being evicted or foreclosed upon has faced
a natural disaster or meets the criteria for other qualifying circumstances they may be eligible to
have their cases expedited by filing a motion to expedite with the board of veterans appeals
and then there are certain technological advantages for some uh attorneys who are
connected to the va and let's talk a little bit about that there's the direct upload what does
that mean absolutely so some attorneys have access this is something that any attorney representing
veterans should be requesting to be able to have the most up-to-date information on their case
that acts through that access they're also able to access something called direct upload
so we don't have to mail things to va we don't have to worry about faxes going through we don't
have to worry about mail being slow or you know coming in whatever form it comes in we utilize
something called direct upload which basically allows us to take our submission of the claim the
appeal the supporting evidence and put it directly into va system so this avoids delays within the
mailing system and um you know it it really moves away from these the old days uh before we had
access where you would file something you would track it as best you could and then kind of hope
that uh va was working on it we can actually track it as it's there and be a system and upload it
and there's another level of access and that is to the va's electronic system called vbms
what does access to vbms do for a veteran if their accredited attorney has access right so to be
clear this is something that's different from the access that a veteran might have on va's website
or on ebenefits this is access similar to what va has and uses this allows us to see
when the case is being worked on who's working on it it allows us to see where it's been assigned
whether it's within the national work queue whether it's one of the d rocks that might be
handling it and that's helpful if there are any issues that arise we'll know who we need to reach
out to to for example make sure that they're looking at all of the issues on the claim or
all of the issues on the appeal um as opposed to to issues that they may have in their system and
others might not be on their radar we can see that and we can help make sure that they are looking
at everything that the veteran wants them to look at um we can also make sure that all of the
uh forms that va needs and requires the application forms the appeal forms
forms allowing va to get medical records that all of those are uploaded that they are in good form
right they're um reviewable by va um so we can make sure that everything's uploaded in the system
and we can continue to monitor the case we can see when va is working on it we can see when
it changes hands it's getting signed to someone we can see when va is drafting decisions on the case
you know and that's pretty important for us to know that it is not only on va's radar but that
movement is happening that's something that veterans can't always see in in their cases
um and so you know that real time tracking status tracking is is a pretty critical uh component to
vbms access it's really an inside look into the specific progress of the claim
and provides far more information than like i said ebenefits or va.gov
which really is it provides a broad overview but not the specifics that i talked about um
can i just ask one question i i know one of the things that we frequently find is that va has not
appropriately in some circumstances created create what's called an end product and can
you talk a little bit about what an end product is and why it's so important to monitor for that
in vbms and how that can help move a case along absolutely so an end product is basically
va scheduling the tasks that need to be completed associated with the claim we do sometimes see that
things that are uploaded in va system are submissions maybe it was an appeal is not
characterized appropriately when it's um added to be a system so there's the layer of us putting
it into their system and then somebody goes in and looks at it and says okay it's this type of
document sometimes they call it third-party correspondence when it's actually an appeal
um and so what we can do is make sure that it's uploaded correctly that it's identified correctly
and that the corresponding action that needs to happen is associated with it that's that ep or
end product that you talked about it's essentially va saying okay we received a claim here are all
the steps that need to happen here's the goal for our time frame to complete those steps
here's the first step that needs to happen so if exams need to be scheduled if evidence needs to be
gathered letters need to be sent to the veteran all of that is will be tracked within va system
so we also monitor the time it takes va to complete tasks and how how does that help move
the claim along so we can check to see did they issue a decision that's kind of the most important
thing we know that there have been all kinds of issues with mailing since last summer va has had
issues with mailing decisions and you know other other documents um that's not new though uh va has
had problems in the past um with regular mailing system and so it's not uncommon for our clients
to call us and to have received money but not a decision that corresponds with it um or you
know they want to they want an update they haven't heard anything they didn't receive a decision and
sometimes we haven't received it either we track va systems to see whether a decision has
been issued um and it allows us to see really you know as va meeting those goals that they have for
making decisions in the supplemental claim laying within six months um they're not but um you know
it does allow us to to look at that and to see you know which lanes are moving faster frankly
so i'm going to wrap up with a question and i may answer my own question as well but i'd
like to get your take on this um there was a promise that the ama would speed things along
it was a promise that by now 2022 that legacy would be done and at this point do you have
any idea when the legacy cases will be done i don't i don't i mean we know that there's a
the backlog is upwards of of 80 000 as we talked about at the board um there are uh there are still
some legacy cases uh at the regional offices it's it's fewer than the numbers at the board um but
there's really no clear time frame of when they're going to be done with that um some of those
decisions some of those cases that are pending at the board and legacy will um get appealed to court
and then when and that'll take time and i don't anticipate that those would be back by the end
of 2022 some of them will be remanded for further development um and if the va can't grant a fully
favorable decision they'll go right back up to the board so there's really no clear time frame um for
how long it's going to take for them to be done they say that they're prioritizing
uh legacy and so they're making more decisions uh proportionately uh in legacy than than in ama
what that's doing is it's creating a greater ama backlog um but you know
really it's hard to see a way out of not only the legacy backlog but also the ama backlog
and so then that gets back to the original question and that is do attorneys delay the claim
and i think the answer is clearly no they do not um the delays are inherent in the system um both
both in legacy and the failed uh promise of the ama right now um and as you say we've
got the backlog in legacy and i don't see that frankly ending at least through the end of 2023
and then the ama in the meantime the backlogs are growing there and so how do they dig out of that
and i can't see my way through that as we sit here at the beginning of 2022 either um and the
recommendation we have is hire an accredited representative
who can use the techniques we've described in this video to make sure that when your case is decided
that it's well presented um so you have the best chance of success at the earliest opportunity
and i think we'll leave it there um christine thank you very much for joining us today
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and uh if you have any further if you want more information i say questions to ask when
hiring a va disability attorney check out our other videos and blog as well and thank you
you