{"id":30132,"date":"2020-09-01T13:43:00","date_gmt":"2020-09-01T17:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.stetson.edu\/law\/news\/?p=30132"},"modified":"2021-03-01T14:15:28","modified_gmt":"2021-03-01T19:15:28","slug":"fighting-the-good-fight-and-winning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.stetson.edu\/law\/news\/index.php\/2020\/09\/01\/fighting-the-good-fight-and-winning\/","title":{"rendered":"Fighting the Good Fight \u2026 and winning"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Stetson Law&#8217;s Veterans Advocacy Clinic celebrates recent successes for veterans<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:26px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In September 2020 Stetson Law\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stetson.edu\/law\/veterans\/legal-help-for-veterans.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Veterans Advocacy Clinic<\/a> celebrated yet another victory for a veteran in need \u2013 this time for a Vietnam combat veteran who was terminally ill with esophageal cancer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vetsprobono.org\/about\/item.8161-What_We_Do\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Veterans Consortium Pro Bono Program<\/a>, a national charity that provides free legal services in federal venues for veterans, referred his case to Stetson. Alumna Julie Munderback dedicated hours to get a remand from the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims to give Stetson students a chance to collect new evidence to support the veteran\u2019s claims.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Students Jakob Braun, JP Steinmetz, and Julia Knoll worked tirelessly, researching and developing medical theories as to how his service could have caused his cancer, including his exposure to chemicals and the possibility that other medical problems could have led to his cancer. They then prepared evidence and correspondence for a medical expert. The students\u2019 work enabled the medical expert to formulate an expert opinion on the causes of the cancer that rebutted the Veteran Administration\u2019s own medical expert opinions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.stetson.edu\/law\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/stacey-rae-for-quarterly.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.stetson.edu\/law\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/stacey-rae-for-quarterly.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-28745\" width=\"186\" height=\"186\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www2.stetson.edu\/law\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/stacey-rae-for-quarterly.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www2.stetson.edu\/law\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/stacey-rae-for-quarterly-200x200.jpg 200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 186px) 100vw, 186px\" \/><\/a><figcaption>Stacey-Rae Simcox<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The work of the students on this case was extremely detailed and laborious, said Professor <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stetson.edu\/law\/faculty\/home\/stacey-rae-simcox.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Stacy-Rae Simcox<\/a>, director of Veterans Law Institute and Director of Veterans Advocacy Clinic. From combing through medical journal articles with Law Librarian Sally Waters, to spending long sessions diagramming theories on whiteboards and then trying to frame their questions for the doctor in medical language that would be clear to him, the students remained diligent and dedicated to this case. Once students received the doctor\u2019s answers and opinion, they then translated them into words the VA would understand.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In September, the Board of Veterans\u2019 Appeals decided that this veteran\u2019s cancer <em>was<\/em> service connected. They agreed to pay him $142,000 in back benefits. They also determined his wife will be entitled to widow benefits after he passes away, which was his primary concern.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis is another example of why the work you all do is so important,\u201d Simcox told those who worked on the case in her announcement of the VA\u2019s decision. &nbsp;\u201cIt makes me proud to be a Hatter and proud to work with each and every one of you!&nbsp; Don\u2019t forget this feeling you have right now \u2013 you can make a difference using your hard-earned skills.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is just one of many examples of the impact of Stetson Law\u2019s Veterans Advocacy Clinic. Another was a decision handed down just prior to the end of 2020. A widow filed a widow\u2019s pension claim in 2010, but over the years, the VA failed to appropriately adjudicate it several times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Vasilios \u201cBilly\u201d Zimarakos (the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stetson.edu\/law\/news\/index.php\/2019\/11\/06\/moot-court-board-members-claim-top-honors-at-contest\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">best oralist<\/a> at the 2019 National Veterans Law Moot Court Competition) won a remand the case from the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims before he graduated in May 2020.\u00a0 Michael O\u2019Quinn, a 3L, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stetson.edu\/law\/about\/home\/office-directory\/veterans-law-institute.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Morgan MacIsaac<\/a>, Veterans Law Institute staff attorney, took over and drafted a brief to the Board of Veterans\u2019 Appeals explaining why the widow deserved an earlier effective date for her claim. The Board agreed and awarded the woman $55,000 in back benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:37px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Stetson Law&#8217;s Veterans Advocacy Clinic celebrates recent successes for veterans In September 2020 Stetson Law\u2019s Veterans Advocacy Clinic celebrated yet another victory for a veteran in need \u2013 this time for a Vietnam combat veteran who was terminally ill with esophageal cancer. The Veterans Consortium Pro Bono Program, a national charity that provides free legal [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1716,2418,1599],"class_list":["post-30132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-1","tag-veterans-advocacy-clinic","tag-veterans-benefits","tag-veterans-law-institute"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Fighting the Good Fight \u2026 and winning - Stetson Law News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www2.stetson.edu\/law\/news\/index.php\/2020\/09\/01\/fighting-the-good-fight-and-winning\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fighting the Good Fight \u2026 and winning - Stetson Law News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Stetson Law&#8217;s Veterans Advocacy Clinic celebrates recent successes for veterans In September 2020 Stetson Law\u2019s Veterans Advocacy Clinic celebrated yet another victory for a veteran in need \u2013 this time for a Vietnam combat veteran who was terminally ill with esophageal cancer. The Veterans Consortium Pro Bono Program, a national charity that provides free legal [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www2.stetson.edu\/law\/news\/index.php\/2020\/09\/01\/fighting-the-good-fight-and-winning\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Stetson Law News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-09-01T17:43:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-03-01T19:15:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.stetson.edu\/law\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/stacey-rae-for-quarterly.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ashley McKnight-Taylor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ashley McKnight-Taylor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www2.stetson.edu\\\/law\\\/news\\\/index.php\\\/2020\\\/09\\\/01\\\/fighting-the-good-fight-and-winning\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www2.stetson.edu\\\/law\\\/news\\\/index.php\\\/2020\\\/09\\\/01\\\/fighting-the-good-fight-and-winning\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ashley McKnight-Taylor\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www2.stetson.edu\\\/law\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/56f7dd69f0f4ca17e47fe08205aabc10\"},\"headline\":\"Fighting the Good Fight \u2026 and winning\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-09-01T17:43:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-03-01T19:15:28+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www2.stetson.edu\\\/law\\\/news\\\/index.php\\\/2020\\\/09\\\/01\\\/fighting-the-good-fight-and-winning\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":530,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www2.stetson.edu\\\/law\\\/news\\\/index.php\\\/2020\\\/09\\\/01\\\/fighting-the-good-fight-and-winning\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.stetson.edu\\\/law\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/11\\\/stacey-rae-for-quarterly.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Veterans Advocacy Clinic\",\"veterans benefits\",\"Veterans Law Institute\"],\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www2.stetson.edu\\\/law\\\/news\\\/index.php\\\/2020\\\/09\\\/01\\\/fighting-the-good-fight-and-winning\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www2.stetson.edu\\\/law\\\/news\\\/index.php\\\/2020\\\/09\\\/01\\\/fighting-the-good-fight-and-winning\\\/\",\"name\":\"Fighting the Good Fight \u2026 and winning - 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