UGA law school creates Veterans Legal Services Clinic

The new clinic will provide veterans in Georgia with legal assistance they might not otherwise have access to or be able to afford, with particular regard to denied or deferred claims before the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. It also includes an educational scholarship component. 

“Dad always taught us that ‘anything worth doing was worth doing right,’” Butler said. “This clinic will help us do right by those who have served our nation and who deserve to live a life of dignity, autonomy and stability. If we can do that, we will make an incredible difference in the quality of life for these honorable men and women.” 

School of Law Dean Peter B. “Bo” Rutledge said this contribution is a clear demonstration of Butler’s steadfast commitment to the betterment of the legal profession and the state of Georgia as a whole. “We are grateful for Jim’s willingness to invest in this new clinic, which will make a real difference for the veterans we serve and provide our students with a truly meaningful opportunity.”  

Four members of the law school’s Board of Visitors have joined Butler in support of the new clinic including Butler’s longtime law partner Joel O. Wooten Jr., Kenneth M. Henson Jr., G. Sanders Griffith III and Pete Robinson. Notably, Wooten, Henson and Griffith are UGA School of Law graduates.

“The Veterans Legal Services Clinic builds upon the law school’s commitment to supporting those who have served our nation,” Rutledge said. “I am pleased that funding for the clinic will also provide a $5,000 scholarship match for two veterans studying at the School of Law each year.”

This funding will be paired with “match” money received through the Department of Veterans Affairs Yellow Ribbon GI Education Enhancement Program.  

To be based on the UGA campus in Athens, the clinic will serve veterans and their dependents across the state of Georgia and is scheduled to begin operations during the summer of 2018. 

A 28-member committee – composed of veterans; members of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the Athens Veterans Affairs Clinic and the Athens Veterans Court; five UGA departments; legal professionals and policymakers – worked on the proposal for the clinic for approximately 24 months. This committee was headed by Randy Beck, holder of the Marshall Chair of Constitutional Law at the School of Law.

This news release was originally published by UGA Today on August 2, 2017.

UGA School of Law
Consistently regarded as one of the nation’s top public law schools, the School of Law was established in 1859. Its accomplished faculty includes authors of some of the country’s leading legal scholarship. Georgia Law is proud of its long-standing commitment to providing first-rate legal training for future leaders who will serve state and society in both the public and private sectors. The school offers three degrees—the Juris Doctor, the Master of Laws and the Master in the Study of Law—and is home to the Dean Rusk International Law Center. For more information, see www.law.uga.edu.