The Antonin Scalia Law School Mason Veterans and Servicemembers Legal Clinic (“M-VETS”) recently received the American Bar Association (ABA) Military Pro Bono Project Outstanding Services Award for its services in 2018. The ABA Standing Committee on Legal Assistance for Military Personnel (LAMP) issued this award to M-VETS for their extraordinary pro bono services through the ABA Military Pro Bono Project. Read more
Category: news
M-VETS Prevails in Securing Judgment for Veteran’s Security Deposit
(Pictured: Casey Hunt, Michael Vlcek)
In October of 2018, the Mason Veterans and Servicemembers Legal Clinic represented a veteran and his wife at trial in General District Court to recover their $2,000 security deposit held by their former landlords. In a nearly five-hour long trial, M-VETS student advisors Casey Hunt and Michael Vlcek conducted an opening statement, direct and cross examinations, and a closing argument culminating in judgment for the full amount sought by the clinic’s clients. Read more
M-VETS Provides Pro Bono Wills for Veterans at American Legion Post 139 over Veterans Day Weekend
(Pictured: Chris Babic, Jessica O’Connell, Leigh Winstead, Casey Hunt)
The Antonin Scalia Law School Mason Veterans and Servicemembers Legal Clinic (“M-VETS”) inaugural “Wills for Veterans” program was hosted by American Legion Post 139 in Arlington, Virginia on 10-11 November 2018. Along with M-VETS staff and Adjunct Faculty, Jessica O’Connell, M-VETS student-advisors Casey Hunt, Quinn Kahsay, Chris Babic, Katie Stegmuller and Brandon Howell represented Scalia Law School and the M-VETS program by assisting in the drafting of wills, powers of attorney, and living wills for veterans and their dependents. Read more
M-VETS Finalizes Seven-Year Litigation to Assist Servicemember in Securing Return of Security Deposit After Battling Through Federal and State Court
(Pictured: Historic Fairfax County Courthouse)
The Mason Veterans and Servicemembers Legal Clinic (M-VETS) closed one of its oldest and most unique cases in December 2017, securing ordinary relief through unorthodox means. M-VETS represented an active-duty Servicemember and his wife in seeking the return of their security deposit in 2010. Read more
M-VETS Prevails at Trial in Landlord-Tenant Dispute
The Mason Veterans and Servicemembers Clinic (M-VETS) won a favorable verdict for a client, a Coast Guard and Marine Corps Veteran, in Stafford County Circuit Court last month. The client sought and recovered the return of his security deposit from his former landlord, who withheld the entire deposit, in part, to pay for damages the tenant reported to the landlord during his tenancy. Read more
M-VETS Finalizes Step-Parent Adoptions for Two Families of Active Duty Servicemembers
(Pictured: Leigh Winstead, Bonnie Kelly, Anna Dryden)
The Mason Veterans and Servicemembers Legal Clinic (M-VETS) successfully assisted two military families in filing and finalizing step-parent adoptions this fall. The first family of an active duty Marine sought the clinic’s assistance in finalizing the adoption of the Marine’s four-year-old stepdaughter. Read more
M-VETS Finalizes Divorce for Active Duty Servicemember
The Mason Veterans and Servicemembers Legal Clinic (“M-VETS”) recently finalized a divorce for an active duty servicemember in the United States Air Force after two years of drafting a property settlement agreement and navigating the divorce through the Fairfax County Circuit Court. Read more
M-VETS Student-Advisors Awarded Public Service and Outstanding Student Awards
Former M-VETS student-advisors were recently awarded the Emerging Leader in Public Service award and the Clinical Legal Education Association (CLEA) Outstanding Student Award. M-VETS student-advisor Jamesian D. Emmanuel was awarded the Antonin Scalia Law School Emerging Leader in Public Service award for his contributions in public service while attending Scalia Law, while M-VETS student-advisor C.J. Read more
Opening a Door to Malpractice Suits
The National Law Journal
Jamie Schuman, Supreme Court Brief
December 28, 2016
When veteran Richard Milbauer sued the government for medical negligence, a federal court ruled it did not have jurisdiction to hear the case. That decision could leave all veterans without a way to obtain judicial review of their malpractice claims against Veterans Administration hospitals, a petition for certiorari in Milbauer v. Read more
Legal help for veterans: Taking the case for those who have taken up arms
Legal help for veterans: Taking the case for those who have taken up arms
by Buzz McClain
Veterans of combat often return home from conflict zones with mental and emotional traumas. Sometimes those traumas lead to unhealthy or illegal involvement in drugs and alcohol. Read more