BayLegal’s Veterans Practice: Veteran-Led, Veteran-Focused, Life-Changing Impact
Bay Area Legal Aid’s veterans program focuses on addressing legal barriers to housing and financial stability, primarily helping veterans get the service-related benefits to which they are entitled. Led by BayLegal’s Senior Attorney, Marine Corps and Army veteran Nicole Suraci-Nguyen, BayLegal’s services are informed by her first-hand experience, compassion and dedication In California, which is home to more than a quarter of the nation’s unhoused veterans, BayLegal is proud to be part of the solution helping veterans gain the housing and financial stability they deserve. In 2024, BayLegal served nearly 200 veterans, providing life-changing legal support that promotes long-term stability.
Legal help informed by firsthand experience as a veteran
Suraci-Nguyen’s path to a career focused on helping veterans began with her personal experience as a veteran and challenges navigating her own claim for service-related disability benefits. After serving in the military, she decided to pursue a legal career and enrolled at Golden Gate University (GGU), School of Law. While pursuing her law degree, she filed her claim for veteran disability benefits based on injuries sustained during her service. The level of compensation a veteran receives is based on their “disability rating”. Like many veterans who apply for disability benefits, Ms. Suraci-Nguyen was initially given a low service-connected disability rating of 10% which did not match the reality of her disabilities. Fortunately, GGU had a Veterans Legal Advocacy Center, and with their help she appealed and the 10% rating was corrected to a service-connected disability rating of 30%. The disability benefits she received provided her with the necessary income to continue her education and access to healthcare through Veterans Affairs for her disabilities. This life-changing experience inspired her to do an internship at the Veterans Legal Advocacy Center to help other veterans.
Her experience as a service member made her very comfortable with veterans and she could identify with their experiences: “Because I was a prior vet, my professor gave me one of the more complicated cases first. A PTSD [Post Traumatic Stress Disorder], military sexual trauma case. I was able to get his disability service connected at 90% and upgrade his discharge to fully honorable. I’m like, okay, I have a knack for this.”
Today, Suraci-Nguyen is BayLegal’s lead attorney on veterans-related legal matters. Her caseload is primarily veteran disability benefits, housing, social security disability claims, and discharge upgrades, while she also helps clients with issues related to re-entry, family law, and consumer protection.
“One great thing about this position is that I can address several civil legal issues for veterans at a time, instead of just one and having to send them running around for other help.”
As the legal expert on veterans matters, she values collaboration and connecting clients with BayLegal colleagues on issues within their expertise. She also cultivates and maintains connections with community resources to address veteran’s needs: “One of the pulls to BayLegal in general was the flexibility of [the type of] work and also the team environment.”
Connecting with Veterans through Community Partnerships and Events
BayLegal reaches veterans through community outreach, partnerships, referrals and direct calls to BayLegal’s Legal Advice Line, a free legal hotline where callers are screened for services and receive advice about their legal issues. Suraci-Nguyen is deeply embedded in these efforts – she doesn’t just wait for referrals to come in, she proactively builds partnerships and seeks them out. She visits the Oakland Veterans Affairs Behavioral Health Clinic monthly to provide legal support and connect with veterans in need. “I will always do a referral screening during an outreach event. Normally my nonprofit partners enroll a veteran and do a direct referral to me, but if I find a veteran who may qualify for services, I send them over to get enrolled at Insight Housing, Shelter Inc or East Oakland Community Project” she says. When a veteran is connected with BayLegal and these community partners, the veteran can receive wrap-around services to address legal and non-legal needs. “I would much rather be out meeting veterans where they’re at than sitting behind a desk,” she emphasizes.
Her outreach work also includes community events such as the annual Stand Down on the Delta — a four-day annual event that brings together over 35 providers to serve the veteran community. Hundreds of veterans attend the Stand Down event seeking resources to help them access healthcare, housing and veterans benefits. Veterans, especially if they are disabled, are on a fixed income and are unlikely to retain assistance with VA/SSDI claims, thus, getting an Attorney through a legal aid provider is imperative in remaining stable, healthy and housed.
“I find that rarely do veterans who are referred to me have one legal issue. They may come for one primary issue, but I always ask very broad questions about other civil areas so I can assist while I already have them as a client,” Suraci-Nguyen said.
BayLegal’s client-centered approach leads to life-changing outcomes
Diana Wilson1, a U.S. Navy veteran is an example of the many veterans who BayLegal is able to help. Ms. Wilson has a 60% service-connected disability due to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) resulting from her service. Her PTSD made maintaining full-time employment difficult. When she was connected with BayLegal she was facing being locked out of her apartment and becoming homeless after getting significantly behind inon rent and missing a court appearance. BayLegal stepped in to represent Ms. Wilson. BayLegal was able to prevent the Sheriff’s execution of a lock-out, negotiated the dismissal of the eviction Judgment, a waiver of all back-rent and time for her to move and find new housing. Today, Ms. Wilson is housed, free from unsurmountable debt, connected to supportive services and able to focus on addressing her PTSD in a stable environment.
In 2024, Bay Area Legal Aid served nearly 200 veterans, the majority of whom live with disabilities, underscoring the broad reach and critical importance of Suraci-Nguyen’s work. She leads the veterans’ practice with tenacity and compassion, driven by lived experience and a deep commitment to justice for those who have served.
- Pseudonym used to protect our client’s privacy. ↩︎
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