Veterans Legal Support Clinic

The State of Kansas is home to three major military bases and nearly 200,000 veterans.  These veterans often encounter problems obtaining benefits and navigating status issues.  The government and its public institutions have an obligation to provide adequate services, including 1egal representation, to these veterans who have devoted their lives to the service of the United States.

Grant funding will be used to establish the University of Kansas School of Law Veterans Legal Support Clinic (VLS Clinic).  The VLS Clinic will operate under the auspices of the University of Kansas and the University of Kansas School of Law (KU Law) and will be housed on the University’s Lawrence campus. 

KU Law has been a leader in providing no-cost legal services to the community through its Legal Aid Clinic, Project for Innocence, Medical-Legal Partnerships, and its externship and field placement programs.  The grant will allow KU Law to expand the scope of its community service, focusing specifically on a veterans’ client base and on issues that prevent veterans from moving forward with their lives.

The VLS Clinic can also leverage KU Law’s existing clinics and its relationships with other legal aid organizations and the private bar to provide veterans legal advice on co-occurring issues such as family law, estate planning, and debtor-creditor disputes.  The VLS Clinic also has the opportunity to interact with newly created Veterans Treatment Courts in Kansas, which provide specialized programming for veterans with substance abuse and mental health needs.

Grant funding will support a Program Director for the VLS Clinic, who will be assisted by an Advisory Board made up of existing clinic directors and representatives from veterans’ support groups in Kansas.  Once fully staffed, the clinic will also include a supervising attorney and a staff member who will work with KU Law students as part of the VLS Clinic, thereby expanding its capacity to assist veterans in need of legal support.