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37 Affiliate 1 (2011-2012)

handle is hein.journals/aff37 and id is 1 raw text is: How The Affiliate Will Help You Better Serve Your Affiliate .............page 2
ABA YLD Fall Conference Preview.......................................... page 2
Programming for Affiliate Memberships ..................................... page 3
Annual Meeting Recap: Toronto .............................................. page 3
Give Young Lawyers Practical Skills Through Public Service ...........page 4
Junior Lawyer's Division Project: Expedition 2011 ....................page 4
Around the Country............................................................ page 5
Don't Forget .................................................................... page 5
Taking the Next Steps with Your Affiliate.................................... page 6
2011-2012 District/National Affiliate Representative List ...............page 7
District Reps Learn How to Respond When Disaster Strikes .............page 8
The  Affiite  Aqqcictnce  Teaim  -----------------------------------nq Pw

A Publication of the American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division * www.amiericanbar.org/yld

By Marcella C. Ducca

he American Bar Association Young Lawyers
Division (ABA YLD) is pleased to announce
its signature public service initiative for the
2011-2012 bar year. Project Salute: Young Law-
yers Serving Veterans is a public service program
to provide veterans of the U.S. Armned Services
with pro bunu legal assistance to obtain their fed-
eral veteran's disability, pension, and other related
benefits. Through this project, the ABA YLD seeks
to educate veterans about federal military benefits
that they may be entitled to receive and also to
assist them on a one-on-one basis to complete the
required forms to obtain these benefits.
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) estimates that
there are presently over 22.7 mnillion veterans in the United
States, including veterans from World War 11, the Korean
War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, and, most recently,
from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Since September 11,
2 0 01, more than 2.2 million American servicemen and wom-
en have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, and of those, over
40,000 have been wounded and nearly 6,000 have made the
ultimate sacrifice for our country Many of these returning
veterans pursue their educations and become business lead-
ers and owners, community leaders, and elected officials. But
for a growing nu mber of veterans, retu rning home to civil-
ian life means facing poverty and homelessness, physical and
mental health challenges resulting from their service, and
other obstacles.
A recent study found that in 2008, there were approxi-
mately 23.4 million living veterans, with only 8.5 million, or
36% of those veterans, receiving VA benefits and services. Ac-
cording to an independent media study on veterans' claims in
2004, 572,000 veterans eligible for disability benefits are not
receiving them. The VA estimates that presently over 107,000
veterans are homeless.
Title 38 of the U.S. Code sets forth a broad range of pro-
grams and services provided by the VA that servicemen and
women are eligible to receive. Eligibility for most veterans'
benefits is based on discharge from active military service un-
der conditions other than dishonor-
able. Some veterans' benefits require
wartime service. After discharge, many

yers rvinIVe
Young Lawyers Serving Veterans. As part of this program,
volunteer attorneys will receive three hours of live webinar
training to qualify for VA certification. The Division plans to
have numerous live webinar training sessions each month
throughout the 2011-2012 bar year to provide volunteer at-
torneys the opportunity to complete the training required for
cetfication. Once certified, th 1rand*tore 1wl partici_
pate in a pro se clinic, interviewing veterans and providing as-
sistance and advice to complete the benefit forms on the day of
the clinic. The Division intends to provide its Affiliates with all
of the training and materials required to implement this  proj_
ect in a box, with no additional work required, aside from

identifying volunteer attorneys to participate and
providing the manpower to run the clinics.
q           The launch of this project will take place at
the ABA YLD Fall Conference in Seattle, Wash-
ington, from October 13-15, 2011. In addition
to a planned veterans' clinic, program materials
will be distributed to Affiliates to allow them to
adapt and implement the program in their indi-
vidual states. There will also be a live training ses-
sion on Saturday afternoon of both the Fall and
Spring Conferences, during which attendees can
complete their required three-hour course for VA
r   S    certifiaion.
Clinics will also be held at each of the re-
maining ABA YLD quarterly meetings during the
2011-2012 year: February 2012 in New Orleans, May 2012
in Nashville, and August 2012 in Chicago. It is also hoped that
Affiliates across the country will implement this program in
their home states and make it a permanent program.
The ABA YLD is grateful to its project partner, the University
of Detroit Mercy School of Law (UDM Law), for its assis-
tance in helping to put together the Project Salute: Young Law-
yers Serving Veterans project. The ABA YLD project is modeled
after a UDM Law program, similarly called Proj.ect SALUTE,
continued on page 6

American Bar Association
Young Lawyers Division
321 North Clark Street
Chicago, IL 60654-7598
ISSN: 0360-5485
Young Lawyers
Division

Nonprofit Org.
U.S. Postage
PAID
American Bar
Association

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