Two recent Cornell Law School graduates have won a major victory for an Army veteran through their work in the school’s Veterans Law Practicum. After years of denials, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has granted him a 100 percent service-connected disability rating. The award gives him monthly benefits for life and a retroactive payment of nearly $400,000.

The veteran served seventeen years in the U.S. Army. He enlisted, rose through the ranks, completed Officer Candidate School, and became a captain commanding a tank before he separated in the mid-1990s. He later filed claims for service-connected physical disabilities and mental health conditions. The VA denied every claim, saying no military personnel or medical records existed to back up his in-service injuries.

“It is extraordinary for the VA to report that it could find no records at all for someone who served nearly two decades,” said James Hardwick, director of the Veterans Law Practicum. “Our client did everything that was asked of him. The system failed to hold up its end.”

The veteran, who was referred to the Veterans Law Practicum by The Veterans Consortium, a national nonprofit organization serving veterans and their families, needed legal assistance to appeal the denial of his claim in federal court. Clinic students argued that the VA had violated its legal duty to help the veteran obtain his records. The court agreed and sent the case back to the VA for further development.

Over the course of nearly three years, students worked with the veteran to track down his records on his own, but the records never turned up. The students then took a different approach. They successfully argued that the VA could not keep denying a claim just because service records were missing. Working closely with the veteran, former clinic student Eric Bohrer ’26, helped him write a detailed personal statement describing his service and injuries. He also helped prepare supporting statements from family members and friends, and all these statements were submitted into the record.

After more delay, the VA agreed to consider this lay evidence and scheduled disability examinations for every condition he had claimed. In the end, the VA granted him a 100 percent Permanent and Total disability rating, with benefits going back to the date he first filed.

The case shows the persistence that veterans’ advocacy often takes, and the value of hands-on clinical education. Students gained experience in federal appellate practice, building evidence, and advocating with an agency, all while making a lasting difference for someone who served his country.

“This case demonstrates better than most the long road that veterans are forced to walk for the care and resources that they deserved and how transformative the outcomes can be when their rights are finally vindicated,” said Morgan Landers ’25, U.S. Army veteran and one of the first students to participate in the Veterans Law Practicum. “I’m thankful that the practicum provided me an opportunity to hold the VA accountable.”

For the veteran, who spent many years after his service moving in and out of poverty and homelessness, this outcome is truly life changing.