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GENERAL MOTORS LAWYER HELPS FUND MOBILE LEGAL

CLINIC FOR VETERANS -- "I think about what state my father

would have been in if he hadn't been able to get help, and

how proud he was of his military service. I know this

would be something he'd be very pleased I'm doing."

UDM mobile legal van for veterans.

For more about the UDM mobile legal van for veterans, use the VA Watchdog search engine...click here...
http://www.yourvabenefits.org/sessearch.php?q=udm&op=and

Story here... http://www.law.com/jsp/i
hc/PubArticleIHC.jsp?id=1202423389907

Story below:

-------------------------

GM In-House Lawyer Helps Fund Mobile Legal Clinic for Veterans

A mobile legal clinic for veterans got on the road with an assist from a senior GM attorney

by Amy Miller
Corporate Counsel

Chris Johnson, a top in-house lawyer at General Motors Corp., believes strongly in supporting military veterans because he's one himself. So when a Detroit law school  ( UDM ) wanted to expand a legal clinic for veterans, Johnson was ready to assist. By passing the hat among his fellow GM executives, Johnson raised $120,000 to help the clinic purchase and customize a specially outfitted van. The mobile clinic is now helping veterans across the country file for federal benefits that they're eligible for but aren't getting.

Johnson, the general counsel of GM's North American division, served in the U.S. Army for five years after graduating from West Point in 1973. "I didn't go to war," Johnson says. "But I had friends that did, and colleagues at West Point. I feel very strongly about the responsibility of our nation to honor those veterans who did make that sacrifice and are making it now."

In the spring of 2007, faculty and students at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law started a mobile legal clinic for veterans in Michigan. It was supposed to be a temporary program, says Dean Mark Gordon. But after receiving requests for help from vets in other states, the school decided to take the program nationwide. To do that, though, the school needed a new van, and that required money. So last summer Gordon and a Mercy School alumnus approached Johnson for help.

Johnson says that his initial attempts to raise money from the usual channels at GM failed. He didn't give up, though. Johnson knew that many GM executives were also veterans, so he asked for their help. Five execs who had served in the military agreed to contribute from their own departmental budgets, including John Buttermore, vice president of global manufacturing for GM Powertrain.

"When Chris explained the project, it was unique and seemed like it could really make a difference," says Buttermore, who served in the U.S. Navy for five years after graduating from Annapolis in 1973. "There are a handful of us here who don't take a lot of convincing when it comes to veterans' issues."

And the project has made a difference, says Gordon. Since the new van went into service in February, the clinic has been able to help more than 2,000 veterans file claims for federal benefits. A World War II veteran who was wounded in the attack on Pearl Harbor finally received disability benefits after being told that he had waited too long to file a claim. Several veterans have received disability benefits after the clinic was able to prove that their post-traumatic stress disorder was due to their military service.

Several GM in-house lawyers have offered to work with the clinic, too. Johnson notes that about a dozen attorneys in his department have already been trained, although none have received a case yet. And Johnson, who says he plans to receive training himself, is encouraging his legal colleagues at other companies and law firms to volunteer also.

Johnson says that he watched his own father struggle with service-related disabilities after 30 years in the Army. "I think about what state my father would have been in if he hadn't been able to get help, and how proud he was of his military service," Johnson says. "I know this would be something he'd be very pleased I'm doing."

-------------------------

posted by Larry Scott
Founder and Editor
VA Watchdog dot Org

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