Pro Bono Win for Veterans Highlighted in National Law Journal

• The National Law Journal featured Supreme Court and Appellate associate Jonas Wang’s recent pro bono win for veterans in this Q&A.
• The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Aug. 20 allowed a class action to proceed against the Department of Veteran’s Affairs on behalf of thousands of veterans whose appeals had been improperly closed out due to a computer malfunction. The Veterans Court rejected efforts to reopen the cases, but the Federal Circuit sided with our arguments in a precedent-setting decision – providing a path for these veterans to gain benefits for service-related disabilities.
• Jonas and Orrick partner Mel Bostwick led a pro bono effort for the surviving families of veterans J. Roni Freund and Marvin Mathewson, along with the Carpenter Chartered firm. Jonas argued the case in June.

Jonas told the publication that associates can capitalize on pro bono service to gain appellate argument experience. “[U]nfortunately due to the lack of legal counsel available for a lot of these cases—criminal appeals, immigration appeals, veterans appeals—it can be more common for oral argument opportunities to come to associates through the pro bono route,” Jonas told NLJ. “But it is no less valuable than any other kind of experience because you are still before those judges. I think there’s no better experience than getting those early pro bono arguments.”