December 10, 2019
McGuireWoods was a gold sponsor of the 2019 National Veterans Legal Services Annual Banquet, held Nov. 21, 2019, at The Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C. The yearly event raises funds to support the organization’s mission and recognizes law firms and other groups that volunteer their services to assist veterans and military service members.
McGuireWoods has partnered with the National Veterans Legal Services Program (NVLSP) on a number of pro bono law clinics, including in Washington, D.C., Virginia Beach, and Fayetteville and Raleigh, North Carolina, with additional clinics planned for 2020. The clinics provide free legal services to help veterans, service members and their families secure disability benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs and the U.S. Armed Forces, including assistance with class actions and appeals to the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans. As a partner law firm with the NVLSP, McGuireWoods also trains, recruits and mentors lawyer and nonlawyer pro bono advocates who represent veterans, service members and their family members in benefits claims.
Washington, D.C., partner John H. Thompson, who heads the firm’s Veteran Lawyers Network and co-leads the D.C. office pro bono program, and Charlotte senior counsel and firm pro bono director Angie Zimmern organized McGuireWoods’ participation with NVLSP and the annual banquet. McGuireWoods lawyers attending the banquet included Thompson, Zimmern, partner and D.C. office pro bono co-leader Len Marsico, and D.C. associates Stephanie Jane Bentley, Justine Welch and Drew Austria.
Since 1981, nonprofit NVLSP has worked to ensure that the government delivers to the 22 million U.S. military veterans and active duty personnel the benefits to which they are entitled due to disabilities resulting from their military service.