Clinic Background Information
In 2012, the American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division service project for the program year was entitled: "Project Salute: Young Lawyers Serving Veterans." The State Bar of New Mexico Young Lawyers Division adopted the service project that year and hosted two clinics in Albuquerque. The clinics were focused exclusively on assisting veterans navigate the Department of Veterans Affairs disability benefit process.
In the fall of 2012, Jennifer Broomfield, a licensed social worker, lawyer and veterans justice outreach specialist at the New Mexico Veterans Affairs Health Care System, approached the SBNM YLD to explore how to expand the pro bono legal services available to military veterans from the State Bar of New Mexico and legal service providers from around the state and how to partner with other community stakeholders to address clinical recovery and community integration when delivering legal services.
Broomfield and others at the NMVAHCS conducted a needs assessment pertaining to civil justice issues for veterans and determined that the most frequently cited civil justice issues facing veterans are in the areas of family, landlord/tenant, consumer, employment and drivers' license law. These issues are in addition to those issues specific to veterans, namely VA compensation and pension issues, VA debt collection and overpayment issues, VA medical benefits eligibility, "fee basis" cases, military discharge upgrades and VA disability benefits eligibility.
The resulting partnership has expanded legal services to military veterans in a big way and improved the quality of legal services the bar provides to our nation's veterans. The project offers veterans a broad range of veteran-specific and non-veteran specific legal services through the clinics. The first clinic was held in June 2013. The clinics have served more than 1,000 veterans both through advice and counsel sessions at the clinics and through direct representation through various referral programs. The clinics are covered by the State Bar of New Mexico malpractice insurance. There is also malpractice insurance coverage for direct representation through referral programs such as the Volunteer Attorney Program.
