Veterans Consortium Pro Bono Program

Discharge upgrade program - this component recruits, trains, mentors and supports pro bono volunteer attorneys regarding the practice of veterans law for submission of cases to the respective military service discharge review boards and board for correction of military records. During the year, the discharge upgrade (du) program received 2733 client requests who were provided either direct legal assistance or helpful information. The du program conducts intake clinics with outside law firms and provides training to the volunteers attorneys on the client screening process. The du program has a lifetime success rate of 82%.

Legal assistance programs- this component leads and manages the veterans naturalization assistance program (vnap), the women veterans legal assistance program (wvlap) and two legal advice and referral clinics (larc) in the greater washington dc region- one of which is specific to women veterans. During the year, vnap assisted in the attainment of 62 u.s. Citizenships and wvlap achieved over $1.4 million in back va disability benefits for women veterans. The larcs assisted 474 veterans including 155 women veterans.