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                      VA NEWS FLASH from Larry Scott at VA Watchdog dot Org -- 03-11-2009		  



 


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MOBILE LAW OFFICE AIDS VETERANS -- "I think it's a great

program, because a lot of veterans get screwed by

the government by not getting the benefits

they should for serving the country."

 


University of Detroit Mercy students Erin Jacobs and Paul Davis work with Margaret Costello, left, who supervises the mobile law office. (photo: Charles V. Tines / The Detroit News)

 

For more about the UDM mobile law office, use the VA Watchdog search engine... click here...
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Story here... http://www.detnews.com/a
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02/903100362/1409/METRO

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Mobile law office aids veterans

Detroit school sends converted RV offering free help with disability, pension issues.

Delores Flynn
The Detroit News



SOUTHFIELD -- Military veterans across Metro Detroit and the state are getting free assistance with disability and pension issues thanks to a mobile law office run by the University of Detroit Mercy's School of Law.

The converted recreational vehicle visits community centers, veterans halls or wherever invited at least twice a week to aid low-income veterans having difficulty navigating the federal system to collect their benefits. The idea was developed by the law school dean nearly two years ago, according to Margaret Costello, supervising attorney for the mobile law office, which made a two-hour stop at the Michigan Works Southfield Career Center Monday.

The office is run with the help of student volunteers who have taken a veterans law course and handle roughly five to eight cases each.

About 90 active veterans' cases are handled by the law school program.

Since its inception, the mobile office has made numerous stops in Grand Rapids, Lansing, Jackson, Battle Creek, and each of the Metro area counties, including regular visits to two main Detroit veteran centers in the Cass Corridor and on the east side, Costello said.


                            click for more information -- a disabled veteran owned business

"I think it's a great program, because a lot of veterans get screwed by the government by not getting the benefits they should for serving the country," said Tim Wirkus, a Vietnam Air Force veteran who stopped by the mobile location Monday to get a schedule of future clinics to distribute to the Southfield Veterans Commission. "They don't make it easy, so a program like this that can reach out and provide legal information is beneficial."

A couple of other participants visited to gather brochures for family.

The mobile office has seen anywhere from a handful of participants at its clinics to 400, depending on the location, organizers said. A second mobile veterans office tours nationally, offering similar help. "Most of the veterans we see are homeless, and don't have good transportation so this is a convenient way to give them easy access to us if they need help," Costello said.



You can reach Delores Flynn at (248) 647-7225

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posted by Larry Scott
Founder and Editor
VA Watchdog dot Org
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