Washington State AG Office of Military and Veteran Legal Assistance

The Washington State Attorney General Office of Military and Veteran Legal Assistance (OMVLA) announced a centralized calendar of upcoming free legal aid clinics across the state. These events, which are coordinated with community partners, provide qualifying military personnel and veterans with free assistance for a range of civil legal issues. 

This and more is at

https://www.atg.wa.gov/veteran-and-military-resources

Pension Poacher Prevention Act - Washington State

From the Washington State Attorney General, March 10, 2014

Attorney General Bob Ferguson’s Pension Poacher Prevention Act today passed the Legislature with strong bipartisan support. This measure addresses the growing problem of “pension poachers” who try to scam elderly veterans. The bill now heads to the Governor’s desk to be signed into law.
 Ferguson worked with Sen. Andy Hill, R-Redmond, and Rep. Kevin Parker, R-Spokane, to secure approval for Senate Bill 6208. A coalition of veterans’ advocacy groups and organizations representing elderly Washingtonians, including AARP, supported the bill.
 “Our veterans protected us and we have a duty to protect them from scams,” said Ferguson. “The Attorney General’s Office is working hard to defend the legal rights of veterans, and this bill will improve safeguards and increase enforcement against scammers who rob veterans of their hard earned benefits.”
 “Pension poachers” represent a growing scam to separate elderly veterans from their assets. The scheme involves unscrupulous financial planners or insurance agents claiming to be veterans’ advocates. They offer “help” in submitting a claim for a specific federal U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs pension benefit called Aid and Attendance. The Federal Trade Commission and VA have each issued recent warnings about the scheme.
Poachers convince veterans to reposition their assets to try to qualify for the Aid and Attendance benefit, which has specific and strict qualifications. The poachers then sell veterans often unneeded financial products or services to earn a commission or fee. Problems arise because these unscrupulous brokers often fail to deliver on their promises, do not provide full information about other veterans benefits, and do not reveal the potentially adverse consequences of the financial transactions such as loss of Medicaid eligibility.
 The Attorney General’s Pension Poacher Prevention Act will address these problems by prohibiting certain unfair and deceptive practices. The law will: Make it illegal to receive compensation for assisting with the preparation of a claim, except as allowed under the VA’s rules for accreditation; Prohibit individuals from guaranteeing a specific benefit amount; Make it illegal to misuse personal and financial information gathered for the purposes of assisting an individual with a veterans claim; and Give the Attorney General’s Office enforcement authority through the state’s consumer protection laws.
“Veterans and their families have sacrificed to protect us and as lawmakers we must do what we can to protect them,” said Sen. Andy Hill, who sponsored the legislation. “Too often scammers have defrauded veterans of their retirement savings and insurance options. By improving protections we can help secure their financial future.” “Vulnerable elderly veterans are being targeted by pension poachers offering empty promises of help,” said Rep. Kevin Parker, who sponsored a version of the bill in the House of Representatives. “Veterans are a vital part of our community and we need to work to protect them and the benefits they have earned.” "Veterans are sometimes specifically targeted for the benefits they have earned because of their service,” said Alfie Alvarado-Ramos, Director of the Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs. “Veterans and families who need claims assistance can always get it for free by contacting our agency and network of accredited veteran service officers.”

 If you're worried about a possible pension poaching scams, you can:

• Contact the AG at 1-888-551-4636 
• File a complaint at: http://www.atg.wa.gov/FileAComplaint.aspx. 

June 12: Seattle - Everything Pro Bono and Public Service in and out of the WSBA #MCLE

Please join us for our next Washington State Bar Association - Legal Assistance to Military Personnel (LAMP) quarterly meeting scheduled for Immediately following the quarterly meeting we will have a one-hour CLE presentation. We are very pleased to share with you that we will have a special guest speaker: Ana Selvdige, WSBA Public Service Programs Manager, providing a presentation on “Everything Pro Bono and Public Service in and out of the WSBA.”
 This seminar will cover an overview of RPC 6.1, the various ways to comply with the rule, and the additional rules and organizations that support attorneys’ professional responsibility to assist in the provision of legal services to those who are low and moderate income.
Title:
Everything Pro Bono and Public Service in and out of the WSBA
When/Where:
Thursday, June 12, 2014
Meeting Starts: 11:30 A.M.
CLE Starts: Noon
Ben Bridge Corporate Office
2901 3rd Avenue, 2nd Floor
Seattle, WA 98121.
Speaker:
Ana Selvidge is the Public Service Programs Manager for the Washington State Bar Association. These programs include the WSBA Moderate Means Program, the Call to Duty Initiative, and new initiatives to engage more and new attorneys in providing public and pro bono services. Mrs. Selvidge began working in the legal field in 2007 at the King County Bar Association running the Legal Services for the Homeless Clinics and conducting Spanish intakes for all pro bono programs. Right before joining WSBA, she was the Volunteer Manager for the six Pro Bono Services Programs at KCBA. The registration link for Ana’s presentation.
By:
WSBA Legal Assistance to Military Personnel Section
Credit:
The presentation has been approved for one credit hour CLE credit.
Cost:

• Free to members of the WSBA LAMP Section - join now!
• Others - $10

More Information And Registration

WSBA Call to Duty Program - Washington State

The WSBA Call to Duty Pledge asks you to commit in serving Washington veterans in 2014. As part of the pledge we will support you by providing resources both legal and non-legal to serve veterans, education and CLEs, and the chance to answer the various calls to duty in serving veterans.
By taking this pledge, you commit to serve veterans this year in one or more of the following ways:

• Use my legal skills to advise a nonprofit organization that serves veterans
• Mentor those who take pro bono cases that served a veteran
• Teach at a CLE on veterans legal issues
• Volunteer for one of the Call to Duty’s Days of Service or with the WA Vets Will Clinic
• Take a low-fee veteran's case through the WSBA Moderate Means Program
• Take a pro bono case from an organization who serves veterans
• Become certified to take a VA benefits case.

Pledges are automatically added to our “Call to Duty Pledge” list serve. This list serve provides the following announcements and opportunities:

• Monthly “Lunch and Learn” sessions – these webinars will highlight legal and non-legal resource helpful to serving veterans and their families 
• Volunteer openings across the state
• Access to free CLEs on issues veterans face
• Pro bono case placement
• Success stories from our members and our veterans
• First to sign-up for the Days of Service.

Members who fulfill the pledge will receive a pin, be distinguished in NWLawyer magazine, and invited to a WSBA Call to Duty awards ceremony each January.

Learn more now!

Washington State: New Military and Veterans Legal Resource Guide

PRESS RELEASE FROM WASHINGTON STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL

Attorney General Ferguson unveils new resource for veterans, military personnel

September 10, 2013

Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson today announced a new “Military and Veterans Legal Resource Guide” to help veterans, military personnel and their families understand their legal rights and protections. ...

The guide is available online and will be distributed throughout the state.

With approximately 640,000 veteran residents, Washington State has the 12th largest veteran population in the United States.  Washington is also home to a number of major military installations, such as Joint Base Lewis–McChord, Fairchild Air Force Base, Naval Base Kitsap, and Naval Air Station Whidbey Island. Between active duty military personnel and members of the National Guard and Reserve, there are about 62,000 service members in Washington. Taken together, veterans and military personnel account for more than 10 percent of Washington’s total population.

Get The Guide Here

Sept 5/Seattle: Navigating Family Law Issues for Military Parties (#lawyer education)

Laura Carlsen, an Associate at McKinley Irvin, will cover the unique combination of state and federal law that applies when one or more parties to a family law matter is in the military; she will highlight the basics that every family law practitioner needs to consider, and more advanced considerations and strategies regarding military parental rights, military parenting plans, and military retirement accounts.
Title:
Navigating Family Law Issues for Military Parties 
Family Law Speaker Series CLEs  
When/Where:
September 5, 2012  
12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.
425 Pike Street, Suite 500
Seattle
Preregistration:
Seating is limited, so please reserve your seat for an event in advance by sending an email to cle@mckinleyirvin.com (please include your name, state bar number, and email address) or by calling 206.625.9600.
Cost:
Free
Credit:
Approved for 1.0 Live CLE Credit
Speaker:
Laura Carlsen
Host:
McKinley Irvin
More:
http://www.mckinleyirvin.com/resources/cle/

Lakewood, WA: Drop-In GI Rights Assistance at Coffee Strong

Coffee Strong, a GI-run coffeehouse in Lakewood, Washington State, reports:

"We've updated our drop-in GI Rights Assistance hours at Coffee Strong.  We have GI Rights counselors at the shop on Tuesdays from 5pm to 8pm and Saturday from 1pm to 4pm.  Coffee Strong is located at 15109 Union Ave SW in Lakewood, WA next to Joint Base Lewis-McChord.  We'll be continuing with these hours at least through the end of August.
Our veterans benefits assistance continues to be held on Fridays from 10am - 2pm."

Coffee Strong is not staffed by lawyers; for matters requiring lawyers they need to provide  referrals. Attorneys interested in receiving referrals, or anyone interested in more information, should contact them at http://www.coffeestrong.org/

Representing Washington State Veterans: Basic Legal and Cultural Concepts

The Northwest Justice Project recently published a “Representing WA Veterans” Manual on Washington Law Help, the website for low-income WA residents seeking information on legal issues.
Its intended audience is legal aid advocates who have veteran clients, but it may be useful to veterans themselves and other counselors and case managers who work with veterans.
The authors are Attorney Lauren Peach, Equal Justice Works AmeriCorps Fellow at NJP's Veterans Project) and Leo Flor, a law student at the University of Washington. When Lauren started at NJP, she had a lot to learn about veterans services and referrals in Washington State. It took more than six months to begin to understand the multitude of services and benefits available to veterans. In that time she realized two things: first, that there is no one place a veteran or an advocate can go that gives one an overview of the military, veteran services, or referrals in Washington State. Second, Lauren spent a lot of her time answering the same technical legal questions from other advocates at NJP and partner organizations. There were no written materials she could send to the advocates explaining the answers to these questions.
This manual attempts to fill these gaps. 

Get The Manual Now!
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The Northwest Justice Project (NJP) is Washington State’s largest provider of civil legal services to low-income Washington residents and a proud member of Washington’s Alliance for Equal Justice. With state and federal funding, NJP has 17 offices around the state, and serves between 16,000-20,000 low-income clients annually. This group of clients has historically included veterans, but no focused outreach and capacity focused exclusively on assisting low-income veterans as a distinct population with unique needs and abilities. Growing recognition of this gap in services inspired NJP attorneys to begin focusing on veterans. Concurrently, the Equal Justice Works AmeriCorps legal fellowship program perceived this same gap in services at the national level and in 2010 began offering one-year fellowships to legal aid organizations to fill the gap. NJP received one of those fellowships, supplemented by funding through the King County Veterans Levy, Washington State Department of Veteran Affairs, the Washington State Bar Association’s LAMP (Legal Assistance to Military Personnel) section, and the Osborne Family Foundation. NJP’s Veterans Project is the product of this collaborative funding and community support that enabled NJP to hire in August 2010 one full-time attorney to work exclusively with veterans.

Northwest Justice Project #Veterans Project

The Northwest Justice Project’s Veterans Project provides civil legal assistance and referrals to low income and homeless veterans in a variety of civil legal areas (including child support, consumer law, driver’s license suspensions, and vacating criminal records).

• For legal help, see http://nwjustice.org/get-legal-help
• To volunteer to provide help, see http://nwjustice.org/volunteer-opportunities-0

Mar 24/Seattle, WA - The History of Military commissions in American Jurisprudence

Join Vice Admiral MacDonald as he discusses the differences in the processes of military commissions and federal court proceedings. He will compare legal process and rights of defendants in the two courts and use cases from history to compare and contrast. The presentation will include time for questions and further discussion.

Title
"The History of Military commissions in American Jurisprudence"

Sponsor:
WSBA Legal Assistance for Military Personnel Section
When:
March 24, 201112:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.

Where:
USCG Base Seattle
1519 Alaskan Way S, Seattle

CLE Credits:
2 general credits

Cost:
Free

Click here for further details and online registration
http://www.wsba.org/lawyers/groups/lamp/lampevents2009.htm

Sep 10/Seattle, WA - The History of Military Commissions in American Jurisprudence

 WSBA LAMP Section Quarterly Meeting and Mini-CLE — "The History of Military Commissions in American Jurisprudence"

Sponsor: WSBA Legal Assistance to Military Personnel (LAMP) Section ( http://www.wsba.org/lawyers/groups/lamp/ ).

The LAMP Section announces its quarterly meeting, to be followed by a mini-CLE examining the history of military commissions in American jurisprudence, presented by Vice Admiral Bruce MacDonald, Judge Advocate Generals Corps, United States Navy Judge Advocate General.

When: Friday, September 10, 2010

Where: Ben Bridge Jeweler

2901 3rd Ave., 2nd Floor, Seattle

Approved for 1 general CLE credit

Cost:    Free to LAMP Section members
To join the LAMP Section, see  http://www.wsba.org/lawyers/groups/lamp/default1.htm

Please click on the following link to register for this timely seminar:

https://pro.wsba.org/forms/cle/Z100910.asp  

Washington State: Veterans Child Support Project: Helping Homeless and At-Risk Veterans with Child Support Problems - Pro Bono Opportunity

The Northwest Justice Project is seeking volunteer attorneys and law students to provide pro bono legal assistance to low-income veterans with child support problems. A free "Child Support 101" CLE will be held for volunteers at Seattle University School of Law on Friday, August 13, 2010. Registration information and other CLE and project details will be provided to those who volunteer.

Child support obligations are a barrier to housing, employment, and self-sufficiency for many homeless and at-risk veterans. Many veterans incurred these child support obligations while they were homeless, in a phase of active addiction, or otherwise untreated for a serious mental illness. For incarcerated veterans, the growing arrears from unpaid child support can be a significant barrier to reentry into the community. Many veterans may be able to reduce their child support obligations to a more manageable level and help eliminate these barriers.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and the American Bar Association (ABA) are piloting a project in Seattle and eight other cities to assist homeless and at-risk veterans with child support problems. The local partners for this project include Northwest Justice Project, Open Door Legal Services, VA, DSHS Division of Child Support, and the HHS Seattle Regional Office of Child Support Enforcement.

The local partners are recruiting private attorneys to provide pro bono legal services to veterans who need assistance with their child support obligations. Services will include assessments to determine whether the veteran meets criteria for renegotiation of child support payments and assistance with modifying child support obligations and negotiating payment arrangements and adjustments for child support arrears. Experienced mentors will be available to assist volunteers in providing these services.

If you are interested in volunteering for this project, please contact Bridgette Murphy, Northwest Justice Project, 206.464.1519 ext. 615, bridgettem@nwjustice.org .

Washington State Legal Assistance to Military Personnel (LAMP)

The lawyers of Washington State help with Legal Assistance to Military Personnel through a variety of programs.

For Our Warrior Community

The Washington State Attorney General Office of Military and Veteran Legal Assistance (OMVLA) is a good place to start looking for help:

https://www.atg.wa.gov/veteran-and-military-resources

The Washington State Bar Association's Online Lawyer Directory has a way to locate lawyers who have picked Military Law as a practice area.

• Go to http://www.mywsba.org/default.aspx?tabid=177
• In the scroll box labelled "Area of Practice" pick "Military"
• You may pick further criteria, e.g. city, although that will limit results
• Click "Search"
• You will get a list of lawyers; click on their names to get contact information.

Servicemembers, veterans and their families, just as any other citizen, may find information on pro bono (free) and low bono programs in Washington State, see "How to Find Legal Help". You can also find a lot of self-help materials at http://www.washingtonlawhelp.org/
Active duty service members may wish to go first to Armed Forces Legal Assistance's online database to "locate active duty legal activities offering general legal services within the continental United States". A query for the state of Washington lists the following:

Fairchild AFB (Air Force)

92 ARW/JA

1 E. Bong St. Suite 103 [Bldg 2285]

Spokane, WA 99011

Phone: 509-247-2838 DSN 657-2838

http://public.fairchild.amc.af.mil/

Joint Base Lewis-McChord (Army)

Legal Assistance Office

Mailstop 69 Box 339500

Tacoma, WA 98433

Phone: 253-477-1873/1875 

http://www.lewis.army.mil/sja/

McChord AFB (Air Force)

62 AW/JA

100 Joe Jackson Blvd

Tacoma, WA 98438

Phone: 253-982-5513 DSN 382-5513

http://public.mcchord.amc.af.mil/

NSB Bangor (Navy)

NLSO NW Branch Office Bangor

1001 Tautog Circle

Silverdale, WA 98315

Phone: 360-396-6003 744-6003

http://www.jag.navy.mil/html/NLSO_northwest.htm

USCG Seattle (Coast Guard)

Commander 13th Coast Guard District

915 Second Ave.

Seattle WA

Seattle, WA 98174

Phone: 206-220-7110

http://www.uscg.mil/d13/dl/

NAVSTA Everett (Navy)

NLSO NW Branch Office Everett

2000 W Marine View Drive

Everett, WA 98207

Phone: 425-304-4551 727-4551

http://www.jag.navy.mil/html/NLSO_northwest.htm

NAS Whidbey Island (Navy)

NLSO NW Branch Office Whidbey Island

3530 N. Langley Blvd.

Oak Harbor, WA 98278

Phone: 360-257-2126 820-2126

http://www.jag.navy.mil/html/NLSO_northwest.htm

Naval Shipyard Puget Sound (Navy)

NLSO Northwest

365 South Barclay BLdg 433 Bremerton, WA 98314

Bremerton, WA 98314

Phone: 360-476-2156 439-2156

http://www.jag.navy.mil/html/NLSO_northwest.htm

The Findlaw website has a city-by-city list of lawyers interested in representing active-duty military personnel, military reservists, and veterans here.
The Northwest Justice Project has resources for poor people needing help with civil (not criminal) legal matters. Its Veterans Project can help with things such as child support adjustments, vacating criminal convictions, driver's license suspensions, and more. See the video below ! You can also check out its list of resources relating to veterans.

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For Attorneys

Washington State Bar Association has an active Legal Assistance to Military Personnel (LAMP) Section. For contact information, a calendar of upcoming trainings and other events, and more, see http://www.wsba.org/Legal-Community/Sections/Legal-Assistance-to-Military-Personnel.

Anyone with more information on these or other programs, please add in a comment below. The purpose is service!

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See also

• ABA Military Pro Bono Project
• State-by-state list of LAMP programs