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I was homeless at the time, and it was, like I said, a lot of barriers, trying to move forward and get my life back on track.

I didn't think that it was possible that this could go away.

I thought I was pretty much, you know, up the creek without a paddle and, if it wasn't for the valley and working with them diligently for almost two years, I don't know where my life would be.

So I am Don Hammond.

I run a law firm called Criminal Defense Heroes out of Torrance, California.

So we initially got an email from the Valley staff back in December of 2023, introducing us to Mr.

Jones and explaining that he had a couple of felony convictions that, hopefully we could help him with.

I was, stuck, because of the felonies, the state of California, even felony friendly, jobs, they require seven years to have passed since your felony.

And because of that, I couldn't find any gainful employment.

I couldn't even, work for Uber.

It was very challenging for me to, try to find a job.

And because I couldn't gain income, I lost everything.

And, it was a big barrier in my life.

So we filed both of the petitions in Riverside County.

A month or so later, we received the signed orders for dismissal back from the court.

So judges looked at both of our petitions and decided to go ahead and grant the relief for Mr.

Jones.

Of course.

I feel a lot more helpful.

Things are a lot, easier.

They're a lot better now.

My career is advancing.

I owe a lot of that to the valley.

That's given me hope that I can make a living again.

I can provide for my family and.

And make a new future for myself.

If if you've ever lost anything and you've been on the streets and homeless, living out of your car and not knowing where your next meal's coming from, how are you going to get a job?

You know, being in that rut, it seems like you'll never get out.

And it's a never ending spiral downward.

You know, sometimes when you start making those steps, you know, just one step at a time, you're moving up and you know when you could see that progress, you could see the light at the end of the tunnel.

And so, you know, I'm still pushing for I really believe in this kind of post-conviction relief, because the first expungement I ever did was my own while I was a. And so I understand the value of it because I'm living it.

And it's, it's my honor and pleasure to be able to provide these services for my clients and to be able to help our veterans through these tough situations so that they can go on, put the past behind them and be successful.

The best part is that you know, setbacks are setbacks.

You know, life's not over.

You have to put everything in perspective.

It's a journey you're supposed to enjoy.

Those bitter moments just make the sweeter ones that much more sweeter.

And, you know, I look forward to the next steps and, you know, just having a positive mentality through it all is the hardest thing to do.

But that mentality is what's going to put you in and take you through to the next level.

It's incredibly rewarding to be involved in helping DLI help these veterans through their cases.

You know, whenever I get the email from Vialli that lists all the different types of cases that they're looking for help on, and I forward the emails to my colleagues who practice, you know, family law or estate planning or business law, and say, hey, if you can help these veterans, please do.

And I think that that's the message that I would give to, you know, attorneys in general.

It's very rewarding.

And these are people who are worthy and deserving of our assistance.

I'm delighted to welcome Katie Binkley, the deputy executive director at Veterans Legal Institute, to our conversation tonight.

Thank you so much for having me.

And thank you so much for being here.

I mean, we definitely want to talk about the Veterans Legal Institute.

But before we do that, our audience wants to get to know Katie because there is a personal reason why you dedicate so much time to this cause.

Yes.

So thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk about that.

So, yes, I'm an attorney.

And when I had graduated law school and I was ready to start practicing, I just knew that I wasn't interested in pushing paper and making rich people richer.

I really wanted to have a career with impact and serve my community.

And so where I'm thinking about where I could serve, I was really inspired by the story of my grandfather.

My grandfather was an officer in the U.S.

Army.

So I joke sometimes that I get my bossiness from him.

But he served in the Army during the Korean War, and he was a paratrooper and was so brave and jumped out of airplanes, something that I could never do.

And I was just so inspired by his commitment and his dedication to our country that it really impacted me.

And I wanted to have a career where I could serve back.

And then adding in that veteran component.

It's something I feel so passionately about because, you know, I personally wasn't brave enough to raise my right hand and take that oath and risk my life for service.

But it's so important to me to honor the men and women who do.

You know, I live in Orange County, the average price of an attorney is $400 an hour.

It breaks my heart to think that someone who risked their life to fight to defend our justice system in this country is priced out from accessing that when they come back home.

So it was a match made in heaven.

I found Veterans Legal Institute and have been able to grow as an attorney and serve my community at the same time.

Well, and you don't really hear a lot of times, but this is for your entire organization.

You don't hear lawyers come and say, my first job that I want to do is make sure that I'm giving back.

But when you talk about our veterans, that should tug at all of our hearts because they're the reasons why we can sleep at night, correct?

Absolutely.

We all benefit from their sacrifice in their service every single day of our lives, ourselves, to be safe in our home and have our families and build lives and careers of our own.

So I really think that we are indebted to take care of them.

One message that I really like to say is that, you know, they fought for us.

Now it's our time to fight for them.

People go to war and they come back, and they might not be the same person that they were when they enlisted, especially if they were a baby, 18 year old.

And I think it's our duty as a country to say, when you come home, we are here to welcome you with open arms.

Your community is here, your community has your back, and we want to make sure that you can succeed.

And you talked about, you know, them coming home.

And that's really where the Veterans Legal Institute comes in and helps them because we don't think about that.

We graduate from college.

Then just like what you did or what I did or even our crew back here, we look for a job, we get a job, and but at some point we were able to mature, experience life.

But it's different for our veterans, especially when they go in at 18 and they're coming out at 24, 25.

And then all of a sudden they're hit with adversity.

Can you tell me from your personal experience, what's the biggest issue that our veterans face when it comes to adversity and why they would need the Veterans Legal Institute?

Yeah.

And it's you're so right.

It's such a good point.

When people transition out of the service, you're coming back to civilian life, which is entirely different from the world that you had known for however many years that you served.

And so we hear of a lot of veterans that really struggle when they're re acclimating to that civilian society.

I'd say the biggest adversity I see them face is getting that recognition and compensation for the disabilities that they have after serving.

So a veteran might come home totally different.

And I'd love to tell you a story of someone, our office was lucky enough to meet a woman.

She is an Army veteran.

She lived in Orange County out of her car.

That's where our offices.

That's where I live.

She's my neighbor and my community member living in her car.

Because her requests from the VA to be recognized and compensated for post-traumatic stress disorder were repeatedly denied.

So while she was serving overseas, she was knocked unconscious by a mortar attack and now suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder.

And so many veterans, when they come home, they first submit an application for disability compensation.

And what that is, is it's kind of analogous to like, workman's comp, but the U.S.

military's the most dangerous job in the world.

So it's incredibly likely that someone's going to need that.

And you know that the institutions don't make it very easy for veterans to navigate that process on their own, especially when you're already attesting to the fact that you have a disability.

Going through these hoops and proving yourself and being so vulnerable to talk about your worst days can be something that's really hard for that community.

And so why they need us is because attorneys are really good at navigating those bureaucracies with advocacy in mind.

You know, I'll deal with with all of that, that world when it's fighting for somebody else.

And so this woman, after repeatedly being denied for her service connection, was connected with one of our attorneys.

Not only was her application approved, so she got that validation from the VA that yes, this is something that happened to you and change who you are today, but it's compensable.

So she's going to get monthly income and they're in theoretically in perpetuity because of this condition.

Something that's interesting is that the VA will also acknowledge the years of denied applications and backdate your compensation to that original date.

So this woman, who's sadly suffered for years trying to get recognition was really vindicated because she ended up getting a lump sum payment of $300,000 for a woman who was living in her car in one of the wealthiest counties in the state, to now be validated and recognized for that service that she did for our country.

So it's just such an honor to be able to serve people like that.

And how often are we driving down the road?

And we might see a homeless veteran with a sign, you know, you can pull over and give them $5.

And I would encourage anyone to.

That's direct relief.

But what if we were able to connect them with an advocate who can really change the trajectory of their lives and not only just them, but their children?

This is generations.

So it's it's amazing work to be a part of.

And I'm grateful every day to be a part of the team.

And I'm so grateful for your organization.

I'm a little sad that it's needed, because without your organization helping this young lady, she would still be in her car today.

Probably.

And so how do we change that using the foundation that the Veterans Legal Institute has come up with to help these veterans out there?

And how do we do that?

So I think that we can be a matchmaker for our community.

We are existing to serve this community, and we know our neighbors out there all support the same work.

We're all so grateful to live in this free country that we have.

And so if people want to support veterans, they can do that through us as a proxy.

They can support us, and we are there to be a champion for veterans.

We are there to get them access to the rights that they deserve.

Help them navigate that bureaucracy so they can have the appropriate level of discharge.

You know, it was really shocking to me to learn that there are veterans who get out and might not automatically qualify for health care from the VA.

These things directly correlate to us seeing homeless veterans on the street, which just as a country, we shouldn't allow.

So I would encourage anyone who really wants to tackle that problem to channel your donations to us and help us amplify that mission and be able to serve.

You know, we're in a time where a lot of people are facing uncertainty with their funding.

Federal funding is getting cut.

This is a time where us, as civilians and as citizens, can put our money where our mouth is and support those causes that are true to our values.

And when you talk about causes true to our values, I mean, how could we say no to somebody who is risking their lives for us every day?

And that's what is a little bit, I hate to say, disappointing, but to have them come back and not be able to get the benefits that they deserve, especially health care.

Now, I don't know what our audience is thinking, but I'm thinking I thought that was automatic.

I mean, once you sign that line to serve our country, your healthcare shouldn't be something you think about for the rest of your life.

But you're telling me that's not true.

I know I completely agree with you, and it was jarring to learn.

So, you know, veterans are given a certain characterization of their discharge upon exiting the service.

We hear a lot about honorable discharge or dishonorable discharge, but there's a whole range in between.

And whichever one you get is going to directly correlate to the services that are available to you.

So this is unfortunately a very real example of a veteran who and we know that female soldiers are very proportionally likely to suffer from military sexual trauma.

There are women who report their superior or seek any type of administrative assistance who might be penalized for that, and then they are pushed out.

And now all of a sudden they can't have G.I.

Bill, they can't go to school after their service.

They can't go to the VA.

How isolating must that be to come back and already feel different from your neighbors because of that veteran experience, but to be shut out by the own organization that is supposed to be helping you?

My heart breaks.

And we know that veterans are disproportionately likely to, commit suicide.

And it's just a reality that I think we all need to fight to change every day.

You mentioned, the young lady that you helped.

You saw her.

She she was in the street.

She was close to where you worked.

I mean, how can veterans find you?

Because I'm thinking with our veterans, because they've served our country.

They internalize a lot.

They don't realize that they can ask for help.

So how do we change that?

Because your organization can help these people, but they don't may not feel that they're comfortable enough to reach out.

Yeah, that's such a good point because they've been in the position where you're the hero.

You were the brave one.

You step in to fight for everyone, and just admitting in the first place that you need help is going to be really difficult.

And I completely empathize with that.

But, you know, there's there's power in admitting when we need help and coming together.

And also being able to share your experience with other people who might have gone through that.

So, veterans can come find us.

You know, the easiest way, of course, is to come to our website that's going to be vets legal.org, though we're also out in the community that we want to go to, veteran hotspots for veterans that don't know that we exist.

So the biggest example of that is going to the tip of Ruben VA medical center.

And that's over in Long Beach.

We drive out there every single month with a bunch of attorneys, and it's for veterans who are already receiving their health care at the VA.

Their doctors will literally send them to our office and say, I'm treating you for this condition that I know is caused by Agent Orange exposure, and you're not getting any compensation for it.

So they send them right to us.

And I just want to be clear, as a pro bono nonprofit organization, we do not take a single penny from these veterans recovery.

So there are some attorneys out there, some organizations that will take a cut.

Veterans Legal Institute is not one of those.

We provide 100% pro bono legal services.

And any recovery that veteran gets, they are entitled to because that is their lived experience that they're being compensated for.

This is a perfect way to end our first segment.

When we come back, I want to spend some time talking to you to see how we can get our viewers to support your organizations.

We're going to talk about some of your fundraising that you do.

We'll talk about a really important story.

We'll show in the second segment.

But thank you so much for giving us this great overview, and we're going to talk more about it.

Great.

Thank you.

You come back to hear more from Katie.

Abc7 is saluting veterans and the people who work to better the lives of those who served.

When one vet was getting nowhere with a landlord, he turned to a nonprofit law firm who took on his case.

And Eyewitness News reporter Alex Chaney explains.

Victor Lewis is a U.S.

Army veteran who served as an infantry supply clerk at Fort Campbell in Kentucky in the 80s.

He was living in an apartment that was infested with roaches and reached out to the veterans Legal Institute, or Veli, for help.

Lewis says at first he tried on his own, but the apartment complex didn't resolve the issue quickly enough.

You'll never know how much of a great, help that is, when you can come home and feel comfortable in your home.

So, I salute Nicki and Bli, for helping me in this situation.

As a result, Varley got the apartment complex to move Lewis into a new two bedroom apartment.

At the same price he was paying for his one bedroom place.

It's really exciting when we can hold landlords, to their obligations and make sure that our veterans are living in habitable and safe units and safe housing environments.

It's really exciting when we can improve their lives in that way.

And it makes my day.

Every single day I get to do it.

Welcome back.

Katie.

Thank you so much for that first segment.

It was so educational.

You filled in the gap with what happens to our veterans when they come home, and the experiences that they face, and how the Veterans Legal Institute can help.

But now our viewers have seen this one story about the veteran who is having issues in his apartment and how the veterans Legal Institute can come in and help them.

But from what I'm understanding, this is just one story of many.

You're right.

You're right, Angela.

Which is it's really fun that we have this many examples of lives that we can point to that helped.

So we saw the veteran who thankfully was safely housed, though it ended up being really subpar living conditions and unfortunately, this does happen to both veterans and civilians alike.

And in that situation, you really need an attorney advocate.

And so our team is willing to champion the rights of that veteran to make sure that they're being treated with the dignity that the law requires, that they do well.

And, I mean, I'm shocked I saw that story and I, I just thought, wow.

But I didn't in the back of my mind, think that this story is one of many.

How does it happen?

So it happens from the work of our amazing team.

It's a team of compassionate attorneys, paralegals, legal assistance that come together and work every single day.

So I'll tell you another story.

I did get to meet with a veteran a few years ago, and he came to our office directly from a homeless shelter.

He had all of his belongings in a trash bag with them that he left in the lobby to meet with me, and he came in.

He told me that he had performed work for a company.

He had gotten a job.

He had done everything he was supposed to do.

He was contributing to society, and the employer just decided to never pay him, which is really one of the most fundamental values that we have in our nation, that you should be compensated for the work that you do to support yourself, your family and our economy.

And so that one just really bothered me.

And so we did file a wage claim on his behalf so he could be fairly compensated.

It was around $1,000 that he was owed for work, but because of statutory penalties that you can add on for, you know, it's supposed to disincentivize employers from treating their employees this way.

He ended up getting over $5,000.

And so by connecting him with our community partners, because, you know, the veterans are going to have a lot more issues than just legal issues.

So we can connect with community partners who are providing those services.

He got safely housed in an apartment, and he got another job, and he still calls me sometimes.

And we check in.

And it's just amazing to see how an attorney advocate can really help champion the rights of someone and change their reality.

And one of the things we didn't say and we should have, I should have asked this in the first segment.

The Veterans Legal Institute has been around for how many years?

Yes.

So we've been around for 12 years.

So we started in 2014.

We just recently celebrated our ten year anniversary.

And you know, these are the first 12 years we're not going anywhere.

We're here in Southern California.

But it's not just Southern California veterans who need this service.

We want to expand.

We want to be able to help veterans all across our state and all across our country, access the justice that they fought for and the way that you're doing this to help bring money in to help these veterans is through a gala, right?

Correct.

Explain this to your audience.

We want to know.

So we host a gala every single year.

It's always going to be in November because that's the month of Veteran's Day.

So it's the month that veterans are really on our mind across society.

And so we invite people to come and celebrate.

We champion some local heroes and our community attorneys who are doing the work, veterans doing the work, community organizations doing the work.

And it's our biggest source of individual giving that we do each year.

So we host it.

It's called lawyers for Warriors.

You can see more about it on our website.

I actually help plan it every year.

So it's kind of like my baby.

But how fun to be able to raise money for a cause that you believe in and also have a good time while you do it, you know, we have live music.

We have wine, we have an auction.

And it's just great to be able to get together and celebrate that work that we do and champion those heroes in our community, while also raising money for a cause that we all believe in.

So I would encourage anyone who wants to attend the gala or make a donation to the gala to check out our website to do so.

It does sell out every year, so if you're interested, you got to act now to get your ticket.

Well, and that's so good to know because I mean, we think that we need to know a veteran or need to have a veteran in our family to support what you're doing.

But we don't.

We just need to understand how important our veterans are to the fabric of America.

Correct?

Yeah.

And it's about your time, your talent and your treasure.

If you want to volunteer your time, maybe you're not an attorney or you don't have a lot of money to give, but you've got time that you can give.

You can volunteer with us.

You can come to our legal clinic, at the hospital, at the VA and help us run the clinic that is helping these veterans.

If you are an attorney, you can take on one of these cases pro bono and use these skills that you have to put some good into your community.

Or if you have some treasure, if you can donate your money to the causes that you support, it's a way for you to be in there with them.

Like you're shoulder to shoulder in the trenches, fighting with them for their cause.

And if you're not an attorney, your funding can help do that.

Wow.

So we talked about so much and we still have a little time.

Katie, you've been at this organization for most of your career.

There's just so young.

You've been there most of your career.

What is your hope, hopes and dreams for this organization and how you support veterans?

Yeah.

So, you know, you're right.

I've been at this organization for most of my career.

Once you find a place where you are fulfilled and you are serving, that's a place that you stay.

And so I love being able to work at this organization.

And I touched on it a little bit, but I want to see us serve even more.

So right now we serve Los Angeles, orange, San Bernardino and Riverside counties.

That's only four counties in our big state of California.

You know, we have the opportunity to expand.

We need support of generous donors to do that in order to hire the attorneys and be on the ground providing these services.

And I hope, you know, hopes and dreams.

So we're thinking big here as we are here.

So I'm thinking outside of California, you know, California does have a huge veteran population, but veterans are all across our country and they're facing really similar issues.

And I would love for us to all come together and work for a place where our veterans come home and they're safe and taken care of.

I don't ever want to see another homeless veteran on the street, and I really mean that.

And you talked about the importance of the relationship with your grandfather, and this is why you do this work today.

What are what would you think his thoughts would be?

A grandfather still with us?

My grandfather is not still with us.

So it is it's something that I actually think about and reflect on a lot.

I wish I could call him up and say, hey, guess what?

I just did this week?

I just got out of court.

I want to tell you about it.

And I know you'd have a lot of thoughts.

You know, you don't go from being an officer without being a natural born leader with a lot of opinions.

And so I hope that he somehow knows what I'm doing and is able to see that.

I mean, I hope that he's proud and I'm really inspired by his service and his dedication to our country.

I really try to channel him in my career, too.

That's a perfect way to end our conversation.

As tears start to form in my eyes, the audience is probably wondering what's going on there.

Katie, you are definitely leading in your grandfather's legacy, but most importantly, you're working for an organization that's demanding change in how we treat people who give their life for us.

So thank you so much.

Thank you so much, and thank you for using your platform to champion causes like this.

I'm so grateful I'm not supposed to cry.

I'm sorry.

That's okay.

We're grateful for each other and we are always here to help our veterans.

So, you know you have a friend here.

Yes.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

And thank you for joining us on everybody with Angela Williamson.

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