Please see the note from the Committee on Veterans Chair, Jessica Parker.
Dear Section Leaders-
I am the Chair for the Committee on Veterans. As you are probably aware, Veterans face a variety of legal issues, whether caused by their service, complicated by it or, in some instances, which create opportunities they would not otherwise have.
We did a program in March on establishing and running Veteran run businesses, focusing on formation, funding and contract opportunities. We have already spoken with a few of the Sections about additional programming, i.e.,:
- Labor and Employment Section re: USERRA (Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act), which, among other things, establishes the rights and responsibilities of Veteran employees and employers around deployment, service connected issues, etc.;
- Family Law Section re: support adjustments and custody
- Criminal Law Section re: the potential negative effects of criminal convictions on a Veterans’ military career and upon retirement benefits.
We are looking to collaborate with more of the Sections on programming which educates NYSBA members of nuances they should and would want to be aware of when representing Veterans. If your Section is interested in collaborating, please contact me (jthalerparker@gmail.com ).
As you may not be aware, unlike the Sections which have 2 Communities – 1 for communications among EC members and 1 for communications with your Section’s members- the Committees, as they serve NYSBA as a whole, only typically have a Community for communications among Committee members and, therefore, it can be challenging to get information about this important programming out to NYSBA members. We have arranged with NYSBA to create a Friends of the Committee on Veterans Community for NYSBA members who are interested in being alerted to Veteran-related programming. We would be grateful if you would inform your members, EC and Section, as to the availability of this Community and encourage those who do or may work with Veterans to join (it is an “opt-in” Community). In order to join the Community, folks should contact swhiteley@nysba.org who will add them.
Last, we would love to have a liaison from your Section’s EC to our Committee. Please provide the name and email of the person you would like to appoint to our Section Liaison, Stacey Whitely (swhiteley@nysba.org ). The liaison would be included in the Committee’s planning Community and be invited to Committee meetings/calls (approx. 6 per year). This would be a great way to foster collaboration and facilitate the creation of programming that would be effective, interesting and relevant for attorneys serving Veterans and for NYSBA members generally.
Thank you for your attention and cooperation. Please do not hesitate to contact me (jthalerparker@gmail.com ) or Stacey (swhiteley@nysba.org ) with any questions.
Regards,
Jessica Parker
Chair, Committee on Veterans
Stacey Whiteley, Managing Director of Legal and Community Services
New York State Bar Association
One Elk Street, Albany, NY 12207
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