Northville, Michigan – As law schools throughout the country carry on the 2025-2026 academic year, Legal Help for Veterans PLLC commends these students’ efforts to assist veterans while also gaining essential legal skills.

At Harvard Law School, the Veterans Legal Clinic seeks to advocate for military veterans who wrongfully received a less-than-honorable discharge. Law lecturer and clinic associate director Dana Montalto calls the representation of these veterans one of the clinic’s most important legal services.

Harvard’s clinic provides free legal help to low-income veterans and their families. It prioritizes addressing issues for which veterans may be unable to find help elsewhere, such as in seeking a discharge upgrade. Righting a veteran’s discharge record can open the door to other essential benefits, making it vital to get this issue right.

At the University of North Carolina School of Law, students in a veterans’ legal clinic perform similar duties to those at Harvard, making sure that veterans who received less-than-honorable discharges receive the review they deserve. Such a review often comes with a discharge upgrade and access to necessary benefits.

North Carolina’s High Point University launched its new Bergman and Moore Veterans Law Clinic in Fall 2025. The clinic focuses on helping veterans navigate the disability benefits filing process, a VA system that can be confusing. It also helps law students learn to advocate on behalf of the veterans they serve. It also helps build strong relationships between students, the school, and veterans in the surrounding community.

When law schools and lawyers team up, the benefits can be even more profound. “These programs give veterans an advocate at a critical moment and give students a demanding introduction to public service law,” said James Fausone with Legal Help for Veterans PLLC. “When a discharge is corrected, or a disability claim is properly documented, the result can be long-term housing, health care, and financial stability for a veteran and that veteran’s family.”

The firm noted that many former service members facing complex administrative proceedings still go unrepresented, and that academic institutions are in a position to narrow that gap. Legal Help for Veterans PLLC encouraged additional law schools, particularly in regions with large military and National Guard communities, to explore partnerships with accredited veterans advocates and to expand training on military records, trauma-informed interviewing, and VA regulations.

As the 2025-26 academic year progresses, the firm anticipates that veterans clinics will continue to play a significant role in addressing inequities in the benefits system and in educating the next generation of lawyers about military service and its implications. For veterans, the growth of these clinics means more points of entry into the legal system; for students, it represents a sustained commitment to understanding the obligations society owes to those who have served.