A Key Question You Must Ask the VA Higher-level Reviewer

In several of my VA Higher-level Review conferences, I have found that the Higher-level Reviewer (“HLR”) was missing some of the evidence crucial to our case or that the copies they had were illegible. With this in mind, I highly recommend that you first make sure at the beginning of the conference that your HLR has copies of all the documents you will rely on to make your points. In addition, you also need to ensure that the HLR understands the issues in your case, as I have had instances recently in which the system did not allow the HLR to see what our contentions were on appeal. Thus, do not assume that the HLR has all of your evidence or that they understand your contentions on appeal- if you review these points with them at the start of the conference, it will make the HLR’s job much easier and increase your odds of winning.