Veterans Benefits Manual

Barton F. Stichman is Special Counsel to NVLSP. In 2021, he stepped down as Executive Director of NVLSP, which he co-founded in 1981. After earning law degrees from New York University School of Law (J.D., 1974) and Georgetown University Law Center (LL.M., 1975), he has devoted his entire legal professional career to assisting veterans, active duty military personnel, and their families receive the federal benefits that they need and deserve. His efforts as lead counsel in federal court litigation over the last 46 years have forced the VA to pay over $5.2 billion in retroactive disability, death, and medical benefits to more than 100,000 veterans and their families, compelled the military departments to pay more than $3 million to veterans in retroactive active duty and disability retirement pay, and resulted in upgrades of less than honorable discharges issued to over 7,000 veterans. He helped organize the Veterans Consortium Pro Bono Program, served as the initial director of its Outreach and Education component, and has assisted in the training of more than 4,000 pro bono attorneys in that Program since 1992.

Mr. Stitchman co-authored "Not Reasonably Debatable": The Problems with Single Judge Decisions by the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, 27 Stanford Law & Policy Review 1 (2016), The Rights of Military Personnel, and NVLSP's Military Discharge Upgrade Manual, and he has written articles on veterans law appearing in the Administrative Law Review, the American University Law Review, the Federal Bar News and Journal, Clearinghouse Review, and the Legal Times. He is a member of the Judicial Advisory Committee of the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, a past President of the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims Bar Association and past Chair or Co-Chair of the Veterans Affairs Committee of the Administrative Law Section of the American Bar Association.

Ronald B. Abrams is Special Counsel to NVLSP, where he served as Joint Executive Director from 2004 to 2017 and Director of Training and Publications from 1989 to 2004. He is a graduate of Temple University and Temple University School of Law. A member of the Pennsylvania Bar, Mr. Abrams began his career in 1975 in the Philadelphia regional office of the Veterans Administration, serving first as an adjudicator and then as a member of the rating board. Mr. Abrams transferred to the VA’s Central Office in 1977 as legal consultant to the Compensation and Pension Service (C&P), where he was recognized as an expert in due process.

As legal consultant to C&P, Mr. Abrams helped to draft the VA Adjudication Procedures Manual M21-1. He wrote and interpreted regulations and directives to be followed by VA staff and others, and both drafted and commented on legislation on the VA’s behalf. As part of his work for the Central Office, Mr. Abrams was in charge of the C&P quality review section. While at the Central Office, Mr. Abrams conducted national training sessions in adjudication and due process for VA staff. Since joining NVLSP in 1989, Mr. Abrams has conducted more than 300 training sessions for such organizations as The American Legion, the National Association of State Directors of Veterans Affairs, National Association of County Veterans Service Officers, the Vietnam Veterans of America, the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, AMVETS, Military Order of the Purple Heart, and many state and county departments of veterans affairs. He has also conducted training sessions for many state bar associations, Legal Services Corporation-funded offices, the National Legal Aid and Defender Association, the National Association of Elder Law Attorneys, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Mr. Abrams is author of the NVLSP’s Basic Training Course in Veterans Benefits. He previously served as a member of the governing board of the Veterans Consortium Pro Bono Program and helped design its training curriculum.

Richard V. Spataro is NVLSP’s Director of Training and Publications. After earning his commission through the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps program at Duke University, he spent four years on active duty in the U.S. Navy as a Surface Warfare Officer.

Mr. Spataro began his legal career at NVLSP as a law clerk in 2004. He accepted a position as an NVLSP staff attorney upon his graduation from law school in 2005. He was promoted to the position of senior staff attorney in 2013. From November 2010 to August 2015, he was also the managing attorney of NVLSP's Nehmer Lawsuit Division. He has represented hundreds of veterans before the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims and has also represented veterans before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the Board of Veterans' Appeals, and VA Regional Offices. He trains advocates in veterans law and mentors attorneys who participate in the Veterans Consortium Pro Bono Program. He also serves as a Director on the Executive Board of the Veterans Consortium Pro Bono Program. He has testified before the United States House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs on veterans law issues.

From 2010 to 2013, he served as a Vice Chair of the Veterans Affairs Committee of the Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice of the American Bar Association. He is a graduate of Duke University (B.A., History, 1998) and American University, Washington College of Law (J.D., cum laude, 2005). He is a member of the Virginia and the District of Columbia Bars.

Stacy A. Tromble is the Director of Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims Litigation with NVLSP. She is admitted to practice before the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims and is licensed to practice in the State of New York, the Commonwealth of Virginia, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and the District of Columbia. Ms. Tromble is also a member of the bar of the Supreme Court of the United States and is admitted to practice in several federal districts. She is also a member of the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims Bar Association's Board of Governors.

Prior to joining NVLSP, Ms. Tromble was a senior associate in the government enforcement group of a large international law firm. Her pro bono work at the firm focused on veteran and family law matters. Ms. Tromble earned her law degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo (J.D., summa cum laude, 2007). She also holds a Master of Social Work degree with a mental health concentration

Rochelle Bobroff is Director of Pro Bono at NVLSP, supervising the Lawyers Serving Warriors® program. Previously, Ms. Bobroff was Director of the Federal Rights Project at the National Senior Citizens Law Center and Director of the Access to Courts Program at the Constitutional Accountability Center. She also worked as the Senior Attorney for Systemic Reform at AARP Legal Counsel for the Elderly and as a Senior Attorney at AARP Foundation Litigation. She served as a Commissioner on the D.C. Access to Justice Commission. She has written numerous United States Supreme Court and federal Court of Appeals amicus briefs. She also published several law review articles regarding court access for safety net and civil rights statutes. She has led workshops at national training conferences addressing pro bono innovations and court access.

Ms. Bobroff is a graduate of Yale Law School and obtained her undergraduate degree in Economics at the University of Chicago.

Louis J. George is Special Counsel to NVLSP, and focuses on matters at the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims and Training. He also serves as NVLSP’s VSO liaison. He began his previous tenure at NVLSP in 1998, serving as a Staff Attorney and Senior Staff Attorney before being named Director of Training and Publications, a position he held from 2013 to 2015.

Immediately prior to joining NVLSP in 1998, he worked as an associate counsel with the Board of Veterans’ Appeals, where he wrote decisions regarding entitlement to veterans benefits for review by members of the Board. During law school, he worked as a law clerk with the Board for Correction of Military Records of the Coast Guard, where he researched and wrote decisions regarding requests for discharge upgrades and other claims involving such issues as promotions, separations, and disability retirements.

Most recently, he served as an Attorney for the Office of the General Counsel at the Social Security Administration in Boston, MA. From 2009 to 2010, he was President of the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims Bar Association. From 2012 to 2018 he held several roles (Section Council followed by Budget Officer) in the Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice of the American Bar Association, and previously was Co-Chair of the Section’s Veterans Affairs Committee. He is a member of the Massachusetts and District of Columbia Bars, and is admitted to practice before the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and several other federal courts. A native of Danvers, Massachusetts, he is a graduate of Salem State University (B.S., summa cum laude, 1989) and Georgetown University Law Center (J.D. 1992).

Christine Cote Hill is Special Counsel to NVLSP. She represents veterans, dependents, and survivors before the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Board of Veterans’ Appeals, the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and other federal courts, and supervises litigation staff. She devotes much of her time to mentoring and advising attorneys participating in NVLSP’s Lawyers Serving Warriors® program, mentoring and advising attorneys participating in the Veterans Consortium Pro Bono Program, and training advocates in veterans law. She has also been called to testify before the United States House and Senate Committees on Veterans’ Affairs on veterans’ issues. Ms. Hill joined NVLSP in July 2005.

Prior to that, she worked as an appellate litigator with the Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of the General Counsel, Appellate Litigation Staff. During her tenure, she worked in the United States Senate for two years as a VA Congressional Liaison, and was selected for the agency’s Regulations Re-Write Task Force. She also served as associate counsel at the Board of Veterans’ Appeals. She is a graduate of the Union College and Albany Law School Honors Program.