On June 11th, 2025, the Veterans Justice Pro Bono Partnership held its annual discharge upgrade webinar. The training is a central element of our Partnership, which recruits, trains, and mentors attorneys interested in providing pro bono representation to veterans with unjust less-than-honorable discharge characterizations. Veterans with less-than-honorable statuses are twice as likely to commit suicide or to become homeless, and three times as likely to be involved in our criminal justice system as the general veteran population. They are the most vulnerable and most in need of support, and yet, their discharges often make them presumptively ineligible for the Department of Veteran Affairs health care, housing, and income assistance. Additionally, a majority of veterans with less than honorable discharges are racial minorities, survivors of sexual assault, LGBTQ veterans, and service members suffering from mental health disabilities. Congress established Department of Defense record correction boards to remedy any less-than-honorable discharges that were the result of error or injustice, but the process is long, applicants bear the burden of proof, and the vast majority apply pro se with little or no evidence development. Not surprisingly, few prevail on their own. The Partnership is critical to the Veterans Justice Project’s ability to serve as many of these veterans as possible. To ensure our pro bono partners have all the resources they need, we recruit, train, and mentor the attorneys throughout the entire case.
Additionally, we provide a virtual library of introductory and advanced trainings and provide a new training every year. This year’s training, which had over 100 attendees—the highest number in the 10-year history of the program—focused on best practices for finding evidence for the upgrade applications, with a specific focus on identifying and assessing critical military service records. Additionally, it provided important practice updates, including information on the newly implemented ban on Trans servicemembers and the rollback of physical fitness standards that enabled a more diverse military. The guest presenter, Deepa Arora, is the pro bono manager and staff attorney at Swords to Plowshares.
The training is available to our pro bono network and others who are committed to veterans advocacy. It will again be broadcast through and supported by the Boston Bar Association (“BBA”) and the BBA Veterans and Servicemembers Law Forum, with which we have longstanding partnerships.
Those interested in the training or in learning more about the Veterans Justice Pro Bono Partnership can visit the website here.
Contact: Margaret Kuzma, Director, Veterans Justice Pro Bono Partnership at [email protected]
