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i'm trying to make a decision on whether or not to hire a lawyer for my VA claim. i put a claim in for FMS in 06. the VA has denied my claim that it's service connected TWICE! i am appealing again of course. the American Legion has been my rep for over 2 years. he is working really hard on my case. anyway i was referred to a lawyer by some one and left a msg for her to call me. so she called me and told me that she takes on cases but for 20% of the back pay when case is won. that's a lot of money!
now on another issue.... the military originally medically retired me from active duty, so i was receiving retired pay and had a blue retiree ID. now this is totally separate from the VA, this is DOD. well the department of the Navy handles med boards in the Marine Corps, right? so the dep of the NAvy is the one that sent me the letter that was cutting me off retiree pay almost a year ago. they stopped my retiree pay and took my ID almost 1 year ago saying that my back injury was no longer effecting my life. which is a bunch of BS cuz i'm on SSDI now so i can't work.
anyway, getting to the point of the question for you... i spoke to the lawyer about all this and she wants to represent me for BOTH cases and not half or just one case for the 20% of my back pay. but when talking to her it seemed that she wasn't at all familiar with the med board system and how medically retired works for the MILITARY (not the VA). she does VA claims all the time but it seems she doesn't know anything about appealing to the military, but she wants to take both cases. so i am a bit shaky about whether or not i should hire her. i need everyone's opinions on this matter. i wanna hear your thoughts. should i hire her or not?
now on another issue.... the military originally medically retired me from active duty, so i was receiving retired pay and had a blue retiree ID. now this is totally separate from the VA, this is DOD. well the department of the Navy handles med boards in the Marine Corps, right? so the dep of the NAvy is the one that sent me the letter that was cutting me off retiree pay almost a year ago. they stopped my retiree pay and took my ID almost 1 year ago saying that my back injury was no longer effecting my life. which is a bunch of BS cuz i'm on SSDI now so i can't work.
anyway, getting to the point of the question for you... i spoke to the lawyer about all this and she wants to represent me for BOTH cases and not half or just one case for the 20% of my back pay. but when talking to her it seemed that she wasn't at all familiar with the med board system and how medically retired works for the MILITARY (not the VA). she does VA claims all the time but it seems she doesn't know anything about appealing to the military, but she wants to take both cases. so i am a bit shaky about whether or not i should hire her. i need everyone's opinions on this matter. i wanna hear your thoughts. should i hire her or not?
But you need to make that decision, Just make sure you dont get taken advantage of her. I would probably talk to some other lawyers, they dont charge just to talk.
Do you have anyone you can ask for recommendations or maybe find something on the net. I would google that lawyers name and see what comes up about her. One never knows.
Good Luck
You can check findlaw.com, they have a section where you can search for lawyers by the type of law and your state. Good luck!
I just went through a lot of stress deciding on a SSD lawyer. There just doesn't seem to be anyway of knowing ahead of time how they are going to be in respresenting you. It's kind of a crap shoot.
The fact that she wants to take your case sounds interesting. The 20% I agree is standard.
I would try to do some more research. Is this Post Traumatic Stress FM that you have?
I'm facing a military situation as well. Please make sure you have the right attorney who knows how the military actually works. It would be detrimental to you if you hired a rookie and had to go before a military review board.
The 20% is about right if she's taking the case on contingency. IF she wins the case/s for you, she gets paid, if she doesn't win, she doesn't collect a penny. It's always to the benefit of the attorney representing on these terms to win. (Damn, I hope that came out right!)
Love You Girl,
Dee
Good luck - I hope you find an experienced attorney soon.