The U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issue dozens of precedential decisions each year that affect hundreds of thousands of veterans, their dependents, and their survivors who have claims before VA regional offices and the Board of Veterans’ Appeals. Without an understanding of recent caselaw, you will be less effective in developing strategies and arguments to help win VA claims. These court decisions could provide new avenues for you to help claimants establish entitlement to VA benefits, but might also invalidate arguments you’ve made in claims that are awaiting a decision by the VA.

This webinar will highlight the most important changes in veterans law stemming from court decisions issued from October 2023 through April 2024, with a focus on how advocates can use these developments to the advantage of the claimants they represent. By the end of this webinar, you should understand:

• The meaning of the term “employment in a protected environment” in claims for a total disability rating based on individual unemployability
• Whether a claimant may receive more than one administrative review of the same rating decision, if the requests are filed within one year of that decision
• Whether a letter to the VA can qualify as an “intent to file”
• How the VA must consider the use of medication when rating diabetes
• Whether the VA’s Director of Compensation Service can consider recommendations by other VA officials before making a decision regarding an extraschedular rating
• Whether a six-year statute of limitations applies to claims for combat-related special compensation
• Whether in the modernized/AMA system a supplemental claim seeking an earlier effective date for a VA benefit filed within one year of a BVA decision granting the benefit is prohibited
• And court holdings on other important issues