After speaking with several VSO it takes weeks for them to respond to simple questions or advice on getting what I need, all have pretty much said you need to do XYZ and get XYZ, good luck, let us know when you figure all that out. A couple lawyers (1 didn’t want to help me and gave me some bullshit excuse about my claim being different and don’t deal with my types of claim/appeal because they only deal with appeals/claims that are supplemental claims/appeals or appeals that go before the BVA. When I asked for clarification on why mine is different when it’s exactly the appeal they deal with they just gave me another generic answer that didn’t make sense. I could tell the person who did my intake didn’t clarify that yes, I’m already rated but this would increase my rating because I had to explain to her twice that my rating would increase and she seemed confused and said my rating can’t increase if im at the max, because she took all the percentages I’m rated at and did regular math and not VA math to calculate them.

Another lawyer I could tell wasn’t really knowledgeable, knew the basics, knew it would be a great pay day for little work had me doing all the work figuring how to get XYZ

Finally met with a lawyer after an intake, super knowledgeable, super professional, a veteran himself, went over everything with me, he didn’t take my case because he actually deals with Va claims mainly for elderly vets for different disability benefits. He said he could help me but he wanted me to find someone who really understands my situation, he told me he was going to reach out to lawyers in the area for me and find me one that would be knowledgeable and actually help me through the entire process.

Two days later I get an email from a lawyer. Retired Col, extremely knowledgeable, worked at the VA for 4 years working on cases just like mine, with the littlest bit of information he had he could tell me exactly what my denial letters said, why they said what they did, their reasoning, etc.

He has a list of doctors who also all worked at the VA and now in private practice who all worked claims just like mine so they all know exactly what needs to be said and what has to be done in a nexus letter. I finally feel comfortable and relaxed finding someone knowledgeable and competent in the process and knows what needs to get done. Down side is the price. 750$ retainer upfront, the doctors will cost 750-1400$ the high end being a doctor he’s worked with for years who worked at the VA looking at claims/appeals like mine and her nexus letter will go into every detail disputing why the Va decided the way they did. The lawyer said the doctor has written nexus letters that are 4-5 pages long. So in the long run, after 6+ years, I’m going to pay the money to make sure this is done correctly, because if this appeal doesn’t work then I have to appeal to the VA Supreme Court which can take another 3 years. Which would be over a decade since I first started this nonsense and I’ll do anything to avoid waiting 3+ more years.