This guide is a reference tool for researchers on veterans' issues. Most of the guide focuses on veterans law. For those of you just starting your research, we suggest starting with Secondary Sources.
Specifically, the NVLSP's Veterans Benefits Manual. This book provides an excellent overview of veterans' benefits and can help you gain expertise in veterans law. We suggest checking out the material identified in the Background Materials section to understand veterans' issues further. Afterward, you could consult Primary Sources.
The UIC School of Law Veterans Legal Clinic provides free legal assistance when a veteran has been improperly denied benefits by the Veterans Benefits Administration or needs a military discharge upgrade.
Contact the Veterans Legal Clinic via email at Law-vlsc@uic.edu or by phone at 312-360-2656.
Welcome to the Veterans' Benefits and Issues LibGuide! This LibGuide aims to assist researchers interested in veterans law and veterans' issues. This guide is written for individuals familiar with basic legal research. Hopefully, this guide will expose researchers to veterans' issues. The guide also collects information like career resources for veterans, healthcare programs, and other veterans' benefits to assist further individuals who volunteer and help veterans (Resources for Veterans). Most of this guide will identify resources available through the UIC Law Library, free online sources, and the Chicago Public Library.
Veterans law is an area of law that covers the legal treatment of military veterans and veterans' families. Veterans law falls within a diverse range of legal areas, including but not limited to employment benefits, healthcare, disability, long-term care, loan programs, education, family law, and criminal law. The majority of veterans' law is federal law. These laws are generally protective in nature, providing benefits to qualifying former service members and their families. States and municipalities, though, also pass laws protecting and providing benefits to veterans. To comprehensively understand veterans' benefits, it is important to research federal and state law.
The UIC Law Library provides this LibGuide as a service to our patrons. While this guide covers legal information, it is not intended to be taken as legal or non-legal advice. Please consult a veterans' advocate if you have any veterans' benefits issues. You can find veterans' advocates through the Advocates & Organizations page.
The Department of Veterans Affairs main administrative bodies include the Veterans Benefits Administration that is responsible for VA benefits, the Veterans Health Administration that oversees the VA Healthcare System, and the Board of Veterans Appeals (BVA) that hears appeals from regional office decisions concerning veterans benefits. There are also additional administrative bodies that oversee other VA programs (e.g., cemetery benefits).
Veterans' Benefits are diverse and are found in different areas of the law. Most benefits are protective in nature. Many provide compensation for service, like education benefits. Additionally, the Department of Veterans Affairs administers many of the veterans' benefits programs that exist. This overview will highlight several major benefits, focusing on Education, Health care, Disability and Compensation, Death and Indemnity, and Employment benefits. The focus will be on Federal and Illinois veterans' benefits. For a complete list of veterans, see the Federal Benefits for Veterans, Dependents & Survivors or consult the Secondary Sources page.
The Claims Overview section was created to highlight the different procedures that exist between compensation and education claims. Generally, compensation claim appeals are by far the most common. Education is far less common, but the claim submission and appeals processes differ from the compensation claims procedures. Each topic will have a timeline of events for claims from the point of filing through the VA administrative appeal procedures and the United States Federal Court system.
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Reference librarians can meet with students in one-on-one sessions (or in small groups) to discuss research strategies, recommend relevant resources or review specific legal research topics.
Contact law-library@uic.edu with your research subject and when you would like to meet. A librarian will get back to you to set up an appointment. You can also schedule an appointment on the library homepage by clicking "Schedule an Online Research Appointment." We ask that you request your appointment at least two days in advance, but remember that you can always stop by the reference desk for immediate help with a quick research question.