O’Melveny is working with the Mayor’s Office of Veterans Affairs to help surpass the “10,000 Strong” goal of LA companies hiring 10,000 veterans by the end of 2017.
O’Melveny’s Corporate Social Responsibility program is committed to improving access to justice, education and health care for those in our society who most need it—and our veterans are no exception. O’Melveny performs pro bono work both directly for veterans and for nonprofits that serve veterans.
Our commitment to veterans spans more than a century, beginning with the firm’s founders and continuing across generations of our leaders. It carries on today through the firm’s Veteran Employee Network Group, an alliance of 45 attorneys and staff representing all four branches of the military and through the partner-in-charge of our pro bono programs, himself a veteran, who co-leads O’Melveny’s pro bono veterans’ initiative.
‘Over the past two years, O’Melveny has taken on more than 20 pro bono assignments specifically for veterans.’
HELPING VETERANS MAKE THE RIGHT CONNECTIONS
To help reintegrate veterans into the workforce, we have collaborated with various stakeholders to promote change. Through our work with U.S.VETS, the nation’s largest nonprofit provider of comprehensive services to homeless and at-risk veterans, O’Melveny has helped veterans gain traction with companies that have a track-record of hiring veterans and to increase the number of companies willing to do so.
Earlier this year, O’Melveny attorneys hosted an on-campus recruiting event with student groups at Georgetown Law School to help law student veterans find employment in the legal field.
And O’Melveny has partnered closely with LA Mayor Eric Garcetti’s Office of Veterans Affairs, making introductions to the corporate community, including leaders at Activision, AECOM and Bank of America, to help meet—and surpass—the mayor’s “10,000 Strong” goal of LA companies hiring 10,000 veterans by the end of 2017.
PROVIDING PRO BONO LEGAL SUPPORT
As practitioners, O’Melveny lawyers provide pro bono legal assistance to veterans and to the nonprofits that serve them. Over the past two years, O’Melveny has taken on more than 20 pro bono assignments specifically for veterans, including hosting clinics in our offices. We work with vets to handle appeals of denial of benefits, challenge discharge status and assist veterans’ spouses with benefits claims.
O’Melveny recently took on a policy changing pro bono engagement aimed at establishing the right of veterans to share certain personal information with nonprofit organizations and prospective employers before their discharge. This will accelerate veterans’ access to jobs and services on a national scale.
We are committed to placing the focus on veterans’ rights and welfare to keep them from falling off the grid and into homelessness.
LEVELING THE PLAYING FIELD
O’Melveny has also assisted veterans of our armed forces in securing the benefits to which their service entitles them under the law. The vast majority of veterans who appeal their denial of benefits do not have representation, putting them at a significant disadvantage when litigating their claims. O’Melveny’s work in this area helps to level the playing field for those who made the greatest sacrifices for our country.
Brian Berliner is a partner in O’Melveny’s Los Angeles office. Rochelle Karr is O’Melveny’s Director of Corporate Social Responsibility & Alumni Relations located in the firm’s Newport Beach office. For more information please contact Rochelle Karr, O’Melveny’s Director of Corporate Social Responsibility & Alumni Relations at [email protected] or (949) 823 7177.
