University of Detroit Mercy School of Law's Project SALUTE
Univ. of Detroit Mercy School of Law's Tammy Kudialis
A law school clinic on wheels
Students tour the country, helping veterans obtain benefits.
June 15, 2009
A group of Detroit law school students is touring the country in a Winnebago-turned-law-office, helping low-income veterans obtain disability and pension benefits.
The University of Detroit Mercy School of Law students are traveling in what is believed to be the first mobile law office on wheels — a 31-foot converted recreational vehicle that was donated last year by General Motors Corp.
The ailing Big Three auto giant retrofitted the $110,000 vehicle with built-in filing cabinets, computer desks and a wheelchair lift to help the law school launch its Veteran's Law Clinic, officially known as the Project Salute program.
The program, which recently celebrated its one-year anniversary, has helped more than 2,000 veterans in 11 states and has an army of 740-plus pro bono attorneys lined up across the country, ready to help the veterans obtain benefits.
The next stop is Minneapolis, where four law students and a law professor will dock at two local public libraries on Friday and Saturday to consult with veterans in need of legal services.
"We pack up the show and take it on the road," said law professor Tammy Kudialsi, director of the Project Salute. "One of the most shocking things that we see is that many of [the veterans] don't even know that they're entitled to benefits."
Kudialis explained that the second- and third-year law students who participate in the clinic obtain valuable hands-on experience with clients as they consult with the veterans, research their claims and then refer them to a pro bono attorney if they decide their cases have merit. She said that most of the pro bono attorneys are private practitioners — many of them former veterans themselves — who want to help poor veterans pursue disability and pension claims. She said that more than half of the volunteer attorneys — 430 — have cases that they're working on.
"There are no other mobile law clinics like that that we're aware of," Kudialis said.
Second-year law student Jeff Dillon, a former army sergeant himself and clinic participant, agreed, saying the clinic will make him a better lawyer. His work on the road taught him research skills as he had to help validate veterans claims and overcome what he discovered to be a tough standard of proof that is required for veterans to obtain benefits.
"It's amazing to me some of the hoops that [the veterans] have to jump through," Dillon said. "I was unaware of the level of work that they had to do to obtain their benefits."
Dillon said the law clinic also differed from the law school experience, which exposes students to contracts and torts said. This exposure was different. It involved human beings, who were either homeless, mentally ill and transient.
"It's helping individuals that nine times out of 10 are in need of assistance," Dillon said. "Being able to communicate with the client is probably one of the greatest benefits of participating with this clinic."
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