8/11VA Board of Appeals – Finding Good Accredited Attorneys

The second group of accredited individuals are attorneys. The VA may accredit an attorney if the attorney simply applies for accreditation, holds a valid license to practice law issued by a particular state and has no criminal record.  There is no testing or knowledge requirement.

 The VA assumes that an attorney is trained in the practice of law and will research the applicable laws to obtain the correct answer to a client’s questions.  In general, there are two broad and often overlapping groups of attorneys who assist veterans.

 The first are those who specialize in appellate actions arguing before the Board of Appeals and the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims in cases of denied claims.  This can be a highly specialized field of practice.