The official blog of the WVU Clinical Law Program

On Monday, January 16, 2017, student clinicians serving in the Veterans Advocacy Clinic (VAC) at the West Virginia University College of Law had the pleasure of travelling to Madison, WV, a small community located approximately 35 miles southwest of Charleston, to meet and exchange ideas with veterans of the Daniel Boone Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post 5578, Madison, West Virginia.

The meeting provided the opportunity for the student clinicians to see first-hand some of the issues that West Virginia veterans have with navigating the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) benefits bureaucracy, a system through which the VAC often guides local veterans by representing them on benefits claims and appeals.

Students in the WVU Veterans Advocacy Clinic (VAC) have successfully represented two American veterans in two different appeals before the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (CAVC).  The VAC represents both of these veterans as a result of its partnership with the Washington, DC-based Veterans Consortium Pro Bono Program.

In the Fall 2016 Semester, two student teams represented United States Air Force Veteran Thomas R. Wooten in an expedited appeal before the CAVC.  The student attorneys argued on appeal that the Board of Veterans Appeals had erred in not finding that Mr. Wooten was entitled to an earlier effective date for the payment of special monthly compensation (SMC) due to his extensive service-connected disabilities.  The CAVC agreed and, on September 30, 2016, the Court granted the parties’ joint request to vacate and set aside the Board’s decision denying Mr. Wooten’s claim. The VAC student teams continue to provide pro bono legal assistance to Mr. Wooten on his SMC claims before the agency on remand.

The Republican-controlled United States Congress took initial steps this week to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the federal health care legislation enacted in 2010, colloquially, “Obamacare.” Thomas Kaplan & Rober Pear, House Joins Senate in Approving Groundwork to Revoke Health Care Law, N.Y. Times (Jan. 13, 2017).  Unfortunately, pro-repeal legislators have failed to publically announce an ACA replacement plan.  As noted commentators and several recently-published studies make clear, repealing the ACA’s coverage provisions would work a significant detrimental impact on many West Virginians.

Between 1980 and 2014, the number of incarcerated women rose more than 700 percent. Professor Valena Beety speaks about how women are punished for mental health and addiction issues, rather than treated.

MORGANTOWN – While Jan. 20 will bring an end to President Barack Obama’s second term, criminal justice reform advocates are waiting to see if it also brings an end to the federal clemency initiative he launched in 2014.