Washington, D.C. – The National Organization of Veterans’ Advocates, Inc. (NOVA) awarded the NOVA Pro Bono Advocate of the Year Award to Jeany Mark of Lieberman & Mark, a D.C. veterans law attorney. She accepted the honor on March 17 at NOVA’s 2018 Spring Conference in San Diego.
Established in 2009, the NOVA Pro Bono Advocates Program was created in response to the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) initiative to end veteran homelessness and the increased demand for legal assistance from poverty-stricken veterans. The annual award is given to an outstanding NOVA member who exemplifies the pro bono spirit by providing free legal services to veterans unable to afford them.
As a result of her participation, Jeany provided over 100 pro bono hours in 2017 to veterans and their families, and approximately 400 hours since she began with the NOVA Pro Bono program nearly three years ago.
Since August 2009, participants have provided more than 5,000 hours of pro bono legal assistance to veterans and their families. NOVA members apply their advocacy skills in a variety of ways, from providing legal assistance with claims before VA and the various courts of appeal to helping a disabled veteran obtain a wheelchair or draft a will. Access to pro bono legal services has allowed veterans and their families to obtain over $1 million in needed financial support.
Jeany Mark is one of the founding partners of Lieberman & Mark, a DC-based law firm with an active practice dedicated exclusively to VA disability benefits law. She has represented thousands of veterans and their dependents since 1995 at all levels of the claims process, including representation at the VA Regional Offices, the Board of Veterans’ Appeals, the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (CAVC), and the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
She served on the Board of Governors of the CAVC Bar Association, and has been a long-time member of NOVA, where she previously served on the Seminar Planning Committee for many years.
Ms. Mark holds a J.D. from the Washington College of Law, American University.