May 25, 2023
Putting Your Money Where Your Mouth Is
Private support is vital to continuing the Veterans Clinic mission of helping veterans “Thank you for your service.” A phrase used across America to veterans and current members of the military to express gratitude for the sacrifice made for our country. Jane and Roger Harris decided they wanted to do more. And do more they did. This spring, the Harrises gave $500,000 to the MU Veterans Clinic with the confidence that their generosity would directly benefit veterans. Jane and Roger Harris donated $500,000 to the MU Veterans Clinic to support an additional full-time staff attorney. “We hear…
May 25, 2023
A Message from the Clinic Founder
Angela Drake, Clinic Founder This note is bittersweet because it is my last newsletter message for the Veterans Clinic. I am very excited to start enjoying retirement at the end of the year! The Clinic has truly been an exceptional part of my life and I will be forever grateful to all of the friends, colleagues, students and veterans who made the journey so rich. I often hear people say, “I have no words,” and now I fully understand the phrase. There is simply no way I can acknowledge each person who supported my efforts and the Clinic’s work over…
March 30, 2023
Mizzou Law Student, Veterans Clinic Director File Amicus Brief in the US Supreme Court
On March 29, Mizzou Law 2L Katherine Frerking and Professor Angela Drake, director of the MU Veterans Clinic, filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court for an upcoming case. The case, Skaar v. McDonough, is a putative class action involving hundreds of veterans who were exposed to large amounts of radioactive plutonium dust when they participated in a “clean up” following the collision of two Air Force planes above Palomares, Spain in the 1960s. For years, the Office of Veterans Affairs (VA) used a flawed radiation dose estimate methodology to determine the amount of radiation to which these…
March 10, 2023
Veteran Information Session & Free Legal Consultations for Veterans Offered in Springfield, MO on March 17
The University of Missouri School of Law Veterans Clinic, through its Tigers for Troops program, and in partnership with the University of Arkansas – Little Rock (UALR) Veterans Legal Services Clinic, is hosting a General Veteran Information Session discussing various topics, to include information about the PACT Act. This event will take place at Legal Services of Southern Missouri located at 809 N. Campbell Ave., Springfield, MO 65802 from 9:00-10:30 am. The event is the first partnership between the two clinics to serve veterans who reside in southern Missouri and northern Arkansas. Immediately following the information session, both Veterans Clinics…
Nov. 7, 2022
Staff Spotlight – Eugene O’Loughlin
Intake Coordinator Eugene O’Loughlin Eugene O’Loughlin is the Intake Coordinator and Veterans Benefits Specialist in the Veterans Clinic. He comes to the Veterans Clinic with 14 years’ experience as an Accredited Veterans Service Officer with the Missouri Veterans Commission, where he assisted thousands of veterans with their claims for benefits. Over the years, he has been fortunate to work in an extremely busy office, which has exposed him to a great deal of veterans and other claimants with a wide variety of needs. He has done his best at trying to meet those needs, even if it was…
Nov. 7, 2022
Student Spotlight – Shelby Ehrmann
3L Shelby Ehrmann Shelby Ehrmann always knew she wanted to go to law school. “I’ve always wanted to be a lawyer,” Ehrmann said. “When you’re little everyone’s like ‘I want to be a doctor, I want to be a lawyer, I want to be a veterinarian,’ I always wanted to be a lawyer.” Ehrmann graduated from Stephen F. Austin State University in 2013 with a bachelor’s in Political Science and four years of Reserve Officer’s Training Corps experience under her belt. She originally commissioned into the military hoping to join the Judge Advocate General’s Corps, or JAG. But life threw…
Nov. 7, 2022
Client Spotlight – Lance Moat
Veteran Lance Moat Veteran Lance Moat honorably served in the Navy for more than two decades, serving on active duty from 1982-1992 as a shipboard electrician, or electrician’s mate. He also served in the Navy Reserve from 1998-2009 as a construction electrician. While in the Reserve, Moat was deployed to Iraq during a time when service members were exposed to burn pits. Burn pits have been used to dispose of waste by the military since the Gulf War. While the pits are an efficient means of clearing waste and debris, they also lead to the emission of a myriad of…
Nov. 7, 2022
Continuing to Come Together for Veterans
Law and medical students continue partnering to secure improved disability benefits for Missouri veterans. MU Physician Charles Caldwell, former director of the Ellis Fischel Cancer Center. November marks the six-month milestone since the MU Law Veterans Clinic first announced its partnership with medical students from the University of Missouri School of Medicine. During this time, the partnership has transitioned from defining the scope of the work to learning and optimizing services for Missouri veterans. With additional expertise from medical partners, the Veterans Clinic can determine symptoms manifesting in veterans and tie them back to their military service based on biological…
Nov. 7, 2022
A Message from the Director
Angela Drake, Director of the Veterans Clinic The Clinic is finishing up its fall semester business. Simply put, in our Clinic students help veterans, under supervision, on behalf of a grateful nation. We work very hard in the Clinic – and it’s always a team effort with plenty of ups and downs. Recently, at the mid-way point in the semester, I had a discouraging day. I was wrestling with yet another nonsensical error in a VA decision, which would only cause our client frustration and despair. VA errors are confounding to our students as well. It takes…
May 24, 2022
Coming together for veterans
The Mizzou Law Veterans Clinic has announced a new program to partner with medical students from the University of Missouri School of Medicine. This partnership will involve collaboration between the two professional schools with regard to securing Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) disability compensation benefits for veterans. Mizzou medical students will collaborate with law students and staff at the clinic to review medical records and provide guidance on medical issues. This partnership will enhance the ability of the clinic in its zealous advocacy for veterans. Mark Buck, a second-year law student at Mizzou, a veteran, a practicing doctor and a Veterans…