University of San Diego law students offer free legal help for veterans navigating VA disability appeals

The team includes two staff attorneys, a paralegal, and six law students—three of whom are veterans themselves.

SAN DIEGO — At the University of San Diego’s Veterans Legal Clinic, law students—many of them veterans themselves—are providing free legal services while gaining the skills to fight for those who served. It’s a mission defined by a simple principle: for veterans, by veterans.

During a recent mock case, the team discussed real issues facing veterans seeking legal help, including one veteran who suffers from PTSD and prefers virtual meetings.

The clinic’s team includes two staff attorneys, a paralegal, and six law students—three of whom are veterans themselves. They specialize in VA disability appeals and corrections of military records.

Professor and supervising attorney Alison Brown says the clinic has seen a significant increase in calls for help and attributes the surge to non-profits losing federal funding and a wave of veterans retiring.

The need is critical. The VA reports that nearly 36% of disability claims—about 864,000—are denied each year, often due to insufficient evidence or errors in the application process.

Otto Lange, a second-year law student who served four-and-a-half years as a U.S. Navy supply officer, is learning that every veteran’s story is different.

“The process for even separating from the military is just as difficult as joining,” Lange said.

Working at the clinic has been eye-opening for him.

“The personalized experience that people have going through the military is typically what they internalize; is everybody’s experience. And working here at the Veterans Clinic, I’ve really come to realize that that’s not the case,” Lange said.

That realization is shaping how he practices law, and the hands-on experience has been invaluable.

“Being able to get that hands-on, face-to-face interaction with clients is pretty rare this early on in my legal career,” he said.

For Lange, the work carries deep personal meaning.

“It’s so meaningful to be able to see the veterans that we’re assisting and hear the gratitude in their voice when a lot of them have given up hope and thought that the VA or the DOD has basically abandoned them,” he said.

Brown, a military spouse, says this is the only law school in San Diego that has a veterans clinic—a city with one of the nation’s highest veteran populations.

The clinic’s military-connected staff creates a unique advantage.

“It puts the clients at ease, because they feel like we are able to kind of get them and get their background in a way that you know other attorneys might not,” Brown said.

For the veteran law students at USD, the mission hasn’t changed. They served their country. Now they’re serving those who served alongside them.

“That is such an impactful way to help out the veterans community here in San Diego and across the U.S.,” Lange said.