1. Denver Law Veterans Advocacy Project Professor Ann Vessels
Creating and Directing the Hybrid Externship: Lessons in Entrepreneurship, Collaboration and Impact
Denver Law Veterans Advocacy Project
Professor Ann Vessels

2. What is the Veterans Advocacy Project (VAP)?
PART IN HOUSE CLINIC
PART EXTERNSHIP
Intensive Seminar (3 credits):
Substantive law:
Veterans Benefits
Discharge Upgrades
Skills (e.g.):
Client Interviewing
Case management
Field work (3 credits – 150 hours)
Case rounds in class as part of teaching
Confidentiality among students
Supervising Attorneys
Faculty
Attorneys in the community
Live client work
Student participation in client interviewing and counseling, administrative and court hearings.

3. Why the VAP as a Hybrid? Personal passion.
Create model for hybrid externships.
Combine in house clinic and externship pedagogy that could be applied in other substantive areas.
Provide more students an in house type of clinical experience (when law school isn’t starting new clinics.)
ABA support of Veterans clinics.
Personal passion.

4. VAP Structure People: Director: Full time law school faculty member
2 Adjuncts: Experts in Veterans Benefits and Discharge Upgrades
Supervising Attorneys
6-8 students: first time and advanced students
Location
Off site – where the clients are
Clients
Predominantly homeless Veterans
Some low income Veterans
Funding

5. Structure - Director Full time law school faculty
Created the VAP - Entrepreneur
Concerned with all aspects of running a business;
Structure
Resources: money, people, software, hardware, furniture, all supplies
Location
Collaboration
Strategic direction
Ensures VAP has cases and directs case work
Teaches skills
Serves as Supervising Attorney for some students

6. Structure - Adjuncts 2 Adjunct Professors
Teach substantive law in seminar
Discuss case work in seminar
Serve as Supervising Attorneys for some of the case work.
Instrumental in getting cases during start up phase

7. Structure – Supervising Attorneys
Perhaps the toughest part
Need SA’s who are VA accredited and willing to take a risk
Denver – 400 accredited attorneys, but many have never had a case.
We provide an attorney mentor to the SA’s
Adjuncts, full time faculty, lawyers in community
Need lots of outreach

8. Structure - Students About 2/3 Veterans Numbers:
Fall 2015 – 6 students
Spring 2016 – 6 new students and 2 returning for field work
Summer 2016 – 3 returning students

9. Structure - Location One of the most important decisions!
We are where our clients are.
$800 per month.

10. Structure - Funding Law School: Adjuncts Supplies
Permission for faculty to create and work on program as part of salary, but not workload.
Grants

11. Entrepreneurship Need significant time to develop.
Students understand we are building the VAP; participate in it.
Consider you are building an organization.
What is our mission?
Who are our customers?
What do our customers value?
What are our results?
What is our plan?
Peter Drucker, The Five Most Important Questions You Will Ever Ask about Your Organization

12. Collaboration Central to the VAP success.
Groups/people with whom we collaborate:
Colorado Lawyers for Colorado Veterans
Colorado Bar Association, Military and Veterans Affairs Section
National Law School Veterans Clinic Coalition
Volunteers of America
Veterans Consortium Pro Bono Project
National Veterans Legal Services Program
VA accredited attorneys
Non VA accredited attorneys
State Division of Military and Veterans Affairs
Congressional delegation of your state
Veterans organizations outside of your area, but in your state

13. Impact Students Veterans Community Legal community Law School
VOA – Veteran Services Center

14. What the students like:
Hands on
Thrown in to the cases – knew little but forced to learn
Client interviewing with lots of issues:
Listening
Learning to be proactive (responsible for their cases)
Case rounds
Team environment
VAP is located outside of the law school
Entrepreneurship – building the VAP
Facebook, Website, Blog, grant writing
Law practice skills – Clio (time keeping); other software

15. Student Challenges: Complicated subject matter – VA benefits law
Medical issues
VA Math
Military cultural competency
History
Forms
Hard to understand VA framework

16. Challenges Law school support $$ Need law school faculty director
Managing adjuncts
Finding and managing Supervising Attorneys
Being a community ambassador (time intensive)

17. Takeaways Try it! Lots of work Veterans community needs us
SA perspective (me) – amazing student work