Bill Text: VA HR149 | 2016 | Regular Session | Enrolled

Virginia House Resolution 149 (Prior Session Legislation)

Bill Title: Commending the Lewis B. Puller, Jr. Veterans Benefits Clinic.

Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Passed) 2016-02-26 - Bill text as passed House (HR149ER) [HR149 Detail]

Download: Virginia-2016-HR149-Enrolled.html

HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 149 Commending the Lewis B. Puller, Jr. Veterans Benefits Clinic.

Agreed to by the House of Delegates, February 26, 2016

WHEREAS, the Lewis B. Puller, Jr. Veterans Benefits Clinic, consisting of William & Mary Law students supervised by experienced veterans law attorneys, provides invaluable assistance to veterans pursuing disability compensation benefits for their service-connected disabilities; and

WHEREAS, in 2008, the Lewis B. Puller, Jr. Veterans Benefits Clinic (Puller Clinic) became the first law school clinic in the nation to combine legal and psychological methods to provide holistic services to veterans; and

WHEREAS, the Puller Clinic partners with the Center for Psychological Services and Development at Virginia Commonwealth University and the Center for Psychological Services at George Mason University to address psychological traumas with a multi-disciplinary approach; and

WHEREAS, the Puller Clinic and its volunteer attorneys were presented with the Lewis F. Powell Jr. Pro Bono Award in 2013 by the Special Committee on Access to Legal Services of the Virginia State Bar, recognizing the "foresight and professionalism in helping to provide legal services to veterans with service connected disabilities [and] their role in training and supervising law students"; and

WHEREAS, in 2013, the Puller Clinic became the first law school clinic in the nation to be invited to join the Department of Veterans Affairs Fully Developed Claims Community of Practice; and

WHEREAS, in 2015, the Puller Clinic, in partnership with Starbucks' Armed Forces Network, founded "Military Mondays," whereby law students and professors provide veterans and their families with an opportunity to meet at Starbucks and receive free advice and counsel; and

WHEREAS, "Military Mondays" received the 2016 Brown Select award by the American Bar Association's Standing Committee on the Provision of Legal Services for its innovation and replication; and

WHEREAS, the Puller Clinic held the first National Conference on Law Clinics Serving Veterans to bring people from all across the country together to discuss the legal needs of veterans and encourage replication of the Puller Clinic model; and

WHEREAS, the Puller Clinic is making a difference in the lives of hundreds of veterans annually, while training tomorrow's attorneys to be skilled and ethical practitioners who are passionate about helping veterans obtain the benefits they are owed from a grateful nation; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, That the Lewis B. Puller, Jr. Veteran Benefits Clinic hereby be commended for its years of service to the Commonwealth's men and women in uniform; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to Patricia E. Roberts, director of the Lewis B. Puller, Jr. Veteran Benefits Clinic, as an expression of the House of Delegates' admiration for the clinic's outstanding service to the veterans who have sacrificed so much in defense of the Commonwealth and the nation.