Veterans Justice Clinic - Spring 2023

Federal Statutes: See Title 38 of the United States Code (U.S.C.), "Veterans Benefits." 

Where to find the United States Code:

• Office of the Law Revision Counsel (House of Representatives)
• GovInfo: United States Code
• Lexis: USCS (annotated code; password required)
• Westlaw: USCA (annotated code; password required)

NOTE: A recent piece of legislation highly relevant to the appeals of veterans benefits determinations was the Veterans Appeals Improvement and Modernization Act of 2017 (AMA) (Pub. L. 115-55, 131 Stat. 1105 (2017)), which applies to all claims filed on or after February 19, 2019.  For detailed guidance and explanations of what this means for appeals going forward, please see the Veterans Benefits Manual, § 1.1.2, and Part V, "The VA Claims Adjudication Process" (§ 12.2, "How to Tell Whether a Claim is Subject to the Modernized Review System or the Legacy Appeals System" includes a handy table).

***

Federal Regulations: See Title 38 of the Code of Federal Regulations (C.F.R.), "Pensions, Bonuses, and Veterans' Relief."   Regulations are first published in the Federal Register (in both Proposed and Final form) before they are codified in the C.F.R.

Where to find the Federal Register:

• FederalRegister.gov (federal register documents since 1994)
• Federal Register via GovInfo (every issue going back the first published in 1936)
• Regulations.gov (access to proposed rules, rules and notices, and ability to file electronic comments on proposed rules)
• Lexis: Federal Register (password required)
• Westlaw: Federal Register All; or Federal Proposed & Adopted Regulations - Current (last 2 years) (password required)

Where to find the Code of Federal Regulations:

• CFR via GovInfo (annual edition)
• eCFR (shows continuous updates)
• Lexis: CFR (password required)
• Westlaw: CFR (password required)