New online tool helps veterans identify legal issues and take action to resolve them

The American Bar Association, ARAG legal insurance and CuroLegal recently announced the launch of a new online tool, Legal Checkup for Veterans. The free web-based application helps veterans identify legal needs in their lives – and provides them with straightforward suggestions and resources to help resolve their legal issues.

The online tool is part of a signature initiative by ABA President Linda Klein to improve legal services for veterans, and will complement other resources being developed by the ABA Veterans Legal Services Commission.

“Legal Checkup for Veterans is a much-needed tool that offers a necessary first step in solving this important group’s access to justice issues,” Klein said. “It provides veterans with free and fast help in identifying their legal needs and clear paths to resolution.”

An easy-to-navigate online questionnaire walks veterans through various questions about their lives and offers them “take action” options based on their individual circumstances. It also provides veterans with useful advice about what they can expect when reaching out to resources for resolution – including documents they will need to resolve their problem and sample questions they should be prepared to ask.

CuroLegal, a legal technology company, designed and developed the application with the support of a cross-departmental team from ARAG® legal insurance, as well as a number of subject-matter expert volunteers.

Putting the tool online in a user-friendly format was key to making the legal resources vets need more accessible. “The main cause of the access-to-justice gap is that people simply don’t know that their life problem might actually be a legal problem with a legal remedy,” said Nicole Bradick, Curo chief strategy officer. “Our goal here is to create a demand for justice by alerting users to legal issues and making it really easy for them to take action to resolve them. Technology gives us the ability to offer a solution to this problem at scale.”

“ARAG’s mission is to make sure every American has access to the affordable legal services they need,” said Nicolle Schippers, ARAG associate general counsel and legal industry advocate. “We are thrilled to be part of this collaboration to provide services to veterans, a group of people who have done so much to help America but all too often aren’t given the help they need after they serve.”

“The ABA is grateful to CuroLegal and ARAG for volunteering their time and resources to create this timely resource that will help protect those who protected us,” Klein said.

To learn more about Legal Checkup for Veterans, visit veteranslegalcheckup.com