Honoree: Team Veterans Legal Institute
Team Members: Christopher Gilbertson, KellyAnn Romanych, Neda Shahrestani, Bram Vargas, Erin Callahan, Sarah Lieske, Carla Wilkerson, Ryan Wakely, Bella Shafiee, Kayla Haeri, Jonathan Berger, Scot Douglas, Bill Sims, Jeff Dryer, Jessie Mancilla, Tim Kunze, Stephanie Talavera, Nancy Jones, Juan Valdez, Rochelle Karr
Honored by: Veterans Legal Institute
Cause Area: Veterans
Veterans Legal Institute (VLI) is a grassroots public interest law firm that is wholly military-specific. Every qualifying veteran and active service member that walks through the room and is retained receives all services for free. VLI handles a variety of civil case types that are all geared toward empowering our heroes and removing barriers to housing, healthcare, employment and education. To that end, VLI is powered by the local community and utilizes over 200 volunteers per year. Volunteer attorneys, paralegals, law clerks, administrative assistants, grant writers, event planners, educators, trainers, law students, college students, high school students – all come together to make sure that over 1000 veterans in need get the services necessary for their well being.
The present volunteer team at VLI is well rounded and assists with operational, legal and development support. Every volunteer is critical to the clients we serve. Like the military, there are multiple moving parts and each person has an assigned task or expertise. The team works together with the overall goal to provide holistic legal services to veterans and their families.
2017 Spirit of Volunteerism Awards 