A Combat Veteran Who Will Fight For Your Rights
Throughout the Department of Veterans Affairs and even into the courts!
Robert Franklin Howell has been an appeals attorney for more than 25 years. He is also a Vietnam combat veteran with extensive personal experience in securing veterans disability benefits. Robert is ready to fight to secure the maximum award of veterans' disability benefits to which you are entitled, and if necessary to take that fight into the courts.
A Combat Veteran Fighting For All Veterans!
Robert Franklin Howell is a Vietnam combat veteran who now fights using the law to secure disability benefits for all of our Nation's veterans. His practice is focused on psychological injuries, including PTSD (post traumatic stress syndrome), TBI (traumatic brain injury) and other mental disabilities.
The law currently does not permit a veteran to hire an attorney until his or her disability claim has already been submitted to the VA and denied. Therefore, the Howell law offices do not take cases at the initial application stage. It is Mr. Howell's opinion that there is a conflict of interest for an attorney to represent a veteran at the initial stage, since the attorney only gets paid if you lose your claim there, and have to appeal. Thus, you may wish to enlist the help of a Veterans Service Organization (such as the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, or Disabled American Veterans) to help you complte and present the initial disability application.
Once the initial application has been denied (as the great majority are, regardless of merit), you can fax to me a copy of the VA decision denying your claim, at 831-324-4290. Just write your telephone number on the first page. Ordinarily, I will be able to review the denial and call you within 3 working days, and give you a legal evaluation of your case, and my opinion of the likelihood of success.
There is never an out-of-pocket charge to the veteran for attorneys fees. My fees will be paid at the administrative level as a percentage of recovery of your back benefits check -- and are paid only when you win and receive it. There will never be any charge to you for costs, unless you first specifically authorize the type and amount of the cost in writing. In the great majority of cases, no costs are incurred or paid.
The DVA claims examiners are almost all men and women of good faith who are doing their best under extremely difficult circumstances serve veterans and see that meritorious disability claims are paid. However, their efforts are frequently hamstrung by the system in which they must work, the large number of claims, and chronic understaffing. For almost all veterans, this means long, long delays in the claims system. It does not serve anyone's interest to take out their frustrations on the DVA claims examiners. It is the philosophy of the Howell law office to respect and work with the claims examiners, so that they have the cooperation and information which they need to fairly process our clients' disability applications.
However, the claims examiners at the Department of Veterans Affairs are not only overworked and underpaid -- they are submerged in a morass of confusing and sometimes conflicting, ever-changing case law, administrative regulations, and statutory restrictions which make navigation of the administrative process not only extremely difficult for them, but also of significant peril to the veteran. In addition, the DVA maintains a vast staff of attorneys to defend VA denials of claims, and who consistently attempt to defeat veterans' claims at the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims level. This has resulted in the frequent use of obscure and picayune legal requirements to deny even meritorious claims.
I therefore cannot recommend too strongly that after your initial claim is denied (as it likely will be), you hire an attorney to assist you. Although almost all veterans' attorneys charge a contingent fee of between 20-35 percent of the accrued, back pay, that fee is more than reasonable compared to a defeated application. Most reputable attorneys do not charge any fee for future benefit payments secured. My firm does not.
Robert Franklin Howell will consider accepting all types of cases,but as noted above, his practice is focused on claims involving PTSD, head trauma, mental health, and unemployability claims. Mr. Howell also prefers to litigate claims at the Court Of Appeals level, where the case law governing veterans claims is made. If you currently have a claim pending before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (BVA), Robert will discuss your claim and further procedures to challenge any negative result at no charge. If it becomes necessary to carry your claim on to the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (CAVC), and if Robert accepts your case, there will be no charge to you by him for his services at the CAVC. Ultimately, the only charge to you will be 30% of the accrued (past due and unpaid) benefits paid on remand from the CAVC to the DVA -- there is never an out-of-pocket charge to you for legal services, and you will keep 100% of all future benefits. For information about how you can receive the maximum veterans' disability benefits award you deserve, fax a copy of your most recent VA denial to 831-324-4290, or mail it to: 1120 Forest Avenue, PMB 338, Pacific Grove, CA 93950.
Contact Robert today.
