Our country's veterans fought for their country. Now, Angie Thompson, a Disability Benefits Attorney with the Jan Dils Law Firm, believes it is her turn to fight for them. A member of the Jan Dils legal team since 2009, Angie Thompson helps veterans obtain disability benefits, providing sound legal advice, skilled representation and, often, some needed encouragement.
What amazes me is how complex and complicated the Veterans Administration claims process can be, and that can be frustrating for veterans, who have done so much for their country and now have to fight tooth-and-nail to get the benefits they rightfully deserve, Angie said.
We offer the motivation not to give up, and the experience to obtain the results our clients deserve. At Jan Dils, we explain the whole process and provide a guiding hand to help veterans through it.
Angie Thompson, who has Veterans Administration accreditation, said representing veterans in disability claims has been a natural fit, allowing her to use her experience, knowledge and insight to address each client's needs and concerns.
"I enjoyed working at the women's shelter in Pittsburgh, and when I moved to Charleston, I was looking for a similar area where I would really believe in the people and really want to help them, and that's what I've found here," she said.
Angie said her clients have faced the most difficulty when trying to prove they are entitled to benefits for service-connected disabilities, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.
"The VA has strict rules on proving a PTSD claim. You have to prove there was a stressor, it has to be verified by the VA, and the VA can lose track of records and files," said Angie, who has worked with veterans from Viet Nam, the Gulf War, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Angie's proudest moment: Finding proof of a collision between two American helicopters in Viet Nam for a client who developed PTSD after being sent to clean up the accident site.
"We did hours and hours of research on it, we ran down every lead and utilized every possible resource," she said. We finally found a list of helicopter crashes, and we found one that met the criteria.
When Angie isn't working to get positive results for her clients, you can find her hiking in a nearby nature area with her two dogs, Lincoln and Limerick. She also likes to read.
