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From left: Robin Jones, Master Sergeant Soloman, Major General Gill Beck, Staff Sergeant Duncan and Beth Hopkins.
© SFC Joel Quebec
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By James Vance, USTA Southern
The Wake Forest University School of Law's free legal clinic for veteran’s event turns out to be a hit with the service men and women.
The legal clinic was held on Wake Forest University’s campus consisting of volunteers from the law student group Veterans Advocacy Law Organization (VALOR), the NC Veterans Administration, VA Medical Center and United Way. With the help of the National Military Outreach initiative combined to give 30 veterans a special day and experience by attending an NCAA tennis match between Wake Forest and Virginia Commonwealth on Feb. 3.
The idea for the clinic was to provide free legal advice and assistance to local veterans who might have not known it was available. Law student volunteers with attorney supervision accommodated several legal workshops for the veterans that included law topics such as landlord/tenant issues, rights upon police encounters, federal and state benefits, powers of attorney and wills.
The Department of Veterans Affairs Justice Outreach Program accommodated another workshop dealing with criminal justice concerns specific to veterans. Lawyers were made available to the veterans to answer specific questions and concerns. Also, three attorneys assisted five veterans that wanted to draft or revise their wills. The lawyers had the student volunteers write down all the information to later draft the will documents for the attorney’s to approve and deliver to the veterans.
After the workshops, the volunteers and veterans went to the Wake Forest indoor tennis facility for lunch, which was donated by local Vietnam veteran Butch Wheeler. Concluding the lunch was a presentation by Major General Gill Beck who awarded two local wounded warriors, Staff Sergeant Duncan and Master Sergeant Soloman, with a certificate and a Commander’s Coin. After the ceremony, all the veterans were invited to attend the Wake Forest vs. Virginia Commonwealth indoor tennis match.
USTA was honored to help coordinate the event for such a special cause. This event was the first of its kind and allowed the community to get involved by helping veterans and letting them know that we appreciate their commitment and sacrifice for the defense of this nation
The Wake Forest University School of Law offers six degree programs: the JD, the JD/MDiv, the JD/MA in Religion, the JD/MA in Bioethics, the Master of Laws in American Law and the JD/MBA in conjunction with the university's Schools of Business.