This training was recorded during the afternoon session of NVLSP’s Veterans Benefits Training for Advocates on June 25, 2025. In it, some of NVLSP’s most experienced attorneys discuss errors that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) often makes when adjudicating claims for VA benefits. We also explain how to best address those VA errors to give the claimant the best chance at success as quickly as possible. Finally, we provide advice about how to present a case at a hearing before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals. This webinar is presented in four parts, as described below:

Identifying and Overcoming Common VA Errors: Inadequate VA Medical Examinations (Alexis M. Ivory) (54 min). The most common type of error committed by the VA when developing claims for VA benefits is failing to provide the veteran with an adequate medical examination or opinion, in violation of its duty to assist under 38 U.S.C. § 5103A. We discuss the numerous reasons the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims and U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit have provided for finding VA medical examination reports and medical nexus opinions inadequate, and what the claimant’s representative should do when the VA relies on an inadequate medical examination or opinion to deny a claim.

Identifying and Overcoming Other Common VA Errors (Panel 1): (Alexis M. Ivory, Richard V. Spataro, and Elizabeth Tarloski) (61 min). A discussion regarding how to identify common errors the VA makes when adjudicating claims for VA disability benefits and actions to take when the VA commits such errors. Specifically, we address: errors in claims for VA benefits for mental health disabilities and joint disabilities; the failure to discount the ameliorative effects of medication when assigning disability evaluations; and errors in claims for total disability ratings based on individual unemployability (TDIU).

Identifying and Overcoming Other Common VA Errors (Panel 2) (Renée A. Burbank and Barton F. Stichman) (55 min). A discussion regarding how to identify common errors the VA makes when adjudicating claims for VA disability benefits and actions to take when the VA commits such errors. Specifically, we address errors related to the VA’s Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers and other Veterans Health Administration benefits, and inadequate reasons or bases for decisions of the Board of Veterans’ Appeals.

Effective Oral Advocacy Before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Elizabeth Tarloski) (14 min) – Historically, cases in which an appellant elects a hearing before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (BVA) have higher rates of success than cases in which the veteran presents only written argument, so it is important for veterans advocates to be able to effectively present a case to the BVA at a hearing. We explain the different ways BVA hearings are conducted. We also provide strategies for effectively organizing an oral presentation to the Board, to include obtaining relevant testimony and presenting argument about why a VA regional office committed legal error and why the appellant should be awarded benefits.