Free individual legal consultation for veterans to be offered at Carthage event

(From University of Missouri Extension)

The MU School of Law Veterans Clinic in Columbia will be connecting to the MU Extension office in Jasper County via teleconference throughout the day on July 10th to offer free individual legal consultations for veterans in the area. The three legal areas covered include: VA Disability Benefits; Discharge Upgrades and VA Healthcare.

Founded in 2014, the Veterans Clinic within the University of Missouri’s School of Law (http://law.missouri.edu/jd/skills/veterans-clinic) has given students the opportunities to help veterans and their families secure disability benefits. Supervised by attorneys Angela K. Drake and Brent Filbert, students actually interview clients, witnesses, and medical personnel as well as research and develop the law and facts of the case. 

The students draft documents and prepare briefs relating to VA benefits and discharge upgrades. The Clinic is designed to teach students practical legal skills while helping veterans on behalf of a grateful nation. 

Tigers for Troops is an extension of the legal clinic. The program is intended to extend the services to other counties around the state of Missouri. On July 10th we are piloting a new format to try to increase veterans’ access to this service in counties that are farther from Columbia.

Veterans need to physically be in the Carthage office on July 10th at the time of their appointment. All consultations are individual and confidential. They can schedule ahead of time:

· Online: http://www.cvent.com/d/7yqnm8/4W (must have an email to register online)

· Or call the MU Extension Jasper County office (417) 358-2158.

Each participant will be scheduled every 45 minutes beginning at 8:15am and the last one will be scheduled at 4:15pm. There will be a 30 minlunch break.

If the pilot is successful, we plan to do more in the future.