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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I have an interview with the BVA for this position. After reading this, I don't know if I even want to interview for the position.  It all makes me nervous.  I have pretty extensive litigation experience, and I love being in court.  I left my previous job due to intolerable work conditions. I can't work in another hostile, toxic work environment.  Yeesh.  [/quote]

former litigator here.  If you said you hated litigation I would say BVA might be good for you.  If you loved litigation, but not your particular office, then you need to find another office somewhere and keep litigating.  You will be bored at BVA.[/quote]

There are many non-litigation attorney positions in the federal government. BVA is only one option; however, it’s not a good place to keep your attorney skills sharp because as the other poster stated, much of the work at BVA is copying and pasting text into decisions. Moreover, BVA recently downgraded the max promotion level for BVA attorneys from GS-14 to GS-13 to reflect the boilerplate nature of the work.[/quote]

LOL. You know there are cut and paste decision writers at GS-15 positions in other agencies, don’t you???? Opps, you obvi don’t
[/quote]

Go take a look at BVA decisions. Here's the link. Pick a random decision and read it. Would most agencies pay GS-14 money for that quality of work? I wouldn't, and I'm not the only one who feels that way. Heck, even BVA managers now realize that BVA attorneys don't perform GS-14 level work. Hence, the decision to downgrade the position to GS-13.

https://search.usa.gov/search?affiliate=bvadecisions&sort_by=&query=service[/quote]

This actually seems pretty good. [/quote]

Given that most BVA attorneys are former SSA attorneys, I'm inclined to think that you're comparing BVA decisions to SSA decisions. I agree that BVA decisions involve more legal analysis than SSA decisions. But, compared to other agencies, BVA decisions are much, much simpler to write.

Here's a well written BVA decision that contains significantly more analysis than the average BVA decision: https://www.va.gov/vetapp22/Files2/22008428.txt

Compare that to FLRA: https://www.flra.gov/node/79266

MSPB decisions: https://www.mspb.gov/decisions/nonprecedential/GRIGIONI_DEBRA_LYNN_PH_315H_16_0315_I_1_FINAL_ORDER_1916693.pdf

You'll see the difference. I certainly do, and I think BVA management made the right call to downgrade the BVA attorney position to GS-13. I hear some in BVA management want to downgrade the position even further to GS-12, but I don't support that move since BVA decision writers perform more complex work than SSA decision writers.[/quote]

I do not think it’s true that most BVA attorneys are former SSA attorneys. Some are. But I doubt most are. How is that relevant?

Also, how many decisions per week do these supposedly higher quality writers have to pump out. Are they also supposed
To do de novo review of [b]thousands of documents in each case[/b]? [/quote]

Agencies that want high quality decisions don't require their decision writers to review thousands of documents [i]and [/i]write a decision every 8 to 10 hours. Cheryl (BVA Chairwoman) has repeatedly told Congress that her attorneys can do just that. [i]See[/i] Cheryl's Testimony to Congress describing "Day in the life of a BVA attorney." No wonder the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims finds significant legal and factual errors in nearly 80 percent of BVA decisions. [i]See [/i]Stanford Study at 241. That's a huge remand rate.

Cheryl's Testimony to Congress: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=AACgoVzBKKg&feature=emb_logo (starts at 1:43:17)

Stanford Study: https://dho.stanford.edu/wp-content/uploads/Ho_HandanNader_Ames_Marcus.pdf

[/quote]

How much do private attorneys make in a successful appeal at CAVC?[/quote]

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