Thursday, January 19, 2017

1:30 p.m. – 4:45 p.m.

Military & Veterans’ Law Section

3.0 MCLE Credit Hours

Supreme Court Commission on CLE Course #: 170446

Redbud

A Few Good Men: Court-Martial Appeals; Camp Lejeune Contaminated Water and the “Honoring America’s Veterans and Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act”; and VA Appeals Process New Developments and Updates

This is a three hour CLE course broken down into one hour segments. The first hour, our speaker Colonel Anthony T. Febbo a sitting appellate judge on the Army Court of Criminal Appeals will speak about the court-martial process in the United States Army, the appellate process for courts-martials, and the procedures and operations of the Army Court of Criminal Appeals. This hour of instruction will be a great look into an appellate process that most practitioners never get the opportunity to experience. Colonel Febbo has served on both the prosecution and defense sides of the military justice system. He has had several notable assignments to include deployments to both Afghanistan and Iraq in his career.

During the second hour of instruction we will hear from Retired United States Marine Corps Master Sergeant Jerome Ensminger. Mr. Ensminger has lead the fight and been an integral part of the process in getting H.R. 1627, commonly known as the “Honoring America’s Veterans and Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act”, passed through Congress and signed into law by the President. This bill would not have come into law without Mr. Ensminger and his tireless efforts. Mr. Ensminger’s story is a moving one that involves the loss of his daughter Janey to leukemia at Camp Lejeune. Her diagnosis of leukemia and ultimately her passing were directly attributed to the water at Camp Lejeune. After his daughter’s death, Mr. Ensminger began the fight to expose the contamination and to eventually have this legislation passed. Mr. Ensminger will speak on his personal fight to have this bill passed and to make America aware of the Camp Lejeune contamination, its dangers, and the negative health effects that it poses to people that were exposed to it.

In our third block of instruction, Kenny Dojaquez of Bluestein, Nichols, Thompson, Delgado, LLC will provide an intermediate level discussion of how to prove entitlement to some of these benefits. This segment will be an overview of compensation and a more detailed discussion of benefits for your elder veteran clients. This part will also discuss the proposed changes to pension benefits. Additionally, Kenny will provide an advance level of discussion on changes in VA law. He will discuss a new rule and law changes sat the CAVC, important cases from the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, and the Federal Circuit.

This CLE will certainly prove to be informative and entertaining. It is a must for any Bar member that has ever had any interest in military law or military history!

Agenda

1:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. VA Disability Claims and Appeals Process

Kenny H. Dojaquez

Bluestein Nichols Thompson & Delgado, LLC

Columbia

2:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. Honoring America’s Veterans & Caring for Camp Lejeune

Families Act

MSgt. J.M. Ensminger

U.S. Marine Corps - Retired

Fayetteville, NC

3:30 p.m. – 3:45 p.m. Break

3:45 p.m. – 4:45 p.m. The Military Appellate Courts Overview

COL Anthony T. Febbo, Appellate Judge

U.S. Army Court of Criminal Appeals

Washington, DC

Course Planner/Moderator: MAJ. Clyde “Bennett” Gore Jr., Columbia