An Interview with Beth Kubala, Veterans Day

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Hello and welcome to Legally Bond, a podcast presented by the law firm Bond Chank and King.
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I'm your host, Kim Wolf Price.
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In this episode, we're honoring veterans and active members of the U.S.
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military.
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We give a special shout out to those associated with Bond, our colleagues, family members, and neighbors, as we are recording in November just around Veterans Day.
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And today we're really lucky that I'm speaking with Beth Kubala, Executive Director of the Betty and Michael D.
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Wolfe Veterans Legal Clinic at Syracuse University College of Law.
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Beth is a U.S.
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Army veteran, Lieutenant Colonel, and dedicated advocate for veterans' legal rights.
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Welcome to the podcast, Beth.
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Thanks so much for having me, Kim.
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It's nice to see you on the podcast.
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I will tell our listeners that the last time I saw Beth was Monday at the U.S.
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Supreme Court.
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So it was kind of hot.
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It just doesn't get any better than that, does it?
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It doesn't.
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Beth is a member of the bar since her days in the JAG Corps, and I was lucky enough to be sworn in on Monday.
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So it was really great.
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We got to chat a little bit as we waited for our time to move on as a group from Syracuse University College.
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So nice to see you again this week.
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Same, same.
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Well, I'd like to spend some of our time today talking about the Veterans Legal Clinic, of course, and the importance generally of supporting our veterans.
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And of course, also learn a little bit about you.
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So if that's okay, let's start there.
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Will you tell the listeners a little bit about you?
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And I always say this what you'd like to share, where you grew up, your undergrad or law school experiences, a little about your family, whatever you'd like to share.
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Sure.
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I grew up in Northern Virginia, actually not far from where we were this uh Monday, not far from where the Supreme Court sits in our nation's capital of Washington, D.C.
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And my dad was a member of the Army Reserves, and he was also a public servant.
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He was a government employee his entire career.
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So we grew up with a little bit of an insight into what it means to serve and uh what it means to be in public service.
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So I would say I was I was brought up in an environment where service was important, where the country was important, and where we all felt we were contributing a little bit to our nation.
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So I realized that I didn't know exactly what I wanted to study in college, but an opportunity came to me to go to the United States Military Academy at West Point, and it kind of combined everything I was interested in: sports and leadership and academics, probably in that order.
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And so I was really excited about the opportunity to attend college at a place that valued all of those and provided ample opportunity for many challenges in all of those areas.
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So I wasn't exactly sure what I was getting myself into at West Point, but I found that I really thrived.
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It was a great environment, lots of amazing opportunities that I wouldn't have had at a regular college.
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And as I learned over the course of my four years, the opportunity to serve in your uniform upon graduation.
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That's terrific.
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And then so how did you get to law school?
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So while I was a cadet at West Point, I met a wonderful group of officers who were in the law department.
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And unlike other departments at West Point, the leaders and the officers in the law department were about half women.
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They were all very smart.
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They were engaging.
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There was not necessarily a right or a wrong answer.
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And I was kind of naturally drawn to their uh experiences, their careers.
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And I thought this is for me.
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But there's a little twist.
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You cannot graduate from West Point and go straight into law school.
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That's true.
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So I graduated and was commissioned as a military intelligence officer and served a couple tours as a military intelligence officer first and was very fortunate to be able to attend law school through the Army's funded legal education program.
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So I got to go to law school while I was still in the Army on active duty.
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It was my job to go to law school.
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So that's a added pressure on top of all the other pressures of law school.
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I kind of felt the weight of everyone who had written me a letter of recommendation to be at class on time and to be ready for every assignment and to do my best.
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But that was a really great opportunity.
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That's terrific.
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And you know, we you talked about your dad, and obviously you served, and you're, you know, I said lieutenant colonel raised your rank, which is pretty amazing.
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But you're not the only people in your family who've served.
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You have someone serving even.
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That's correct.
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And I actually kind of took this for granted, but when I I think about it, I'm fourth generation military from my family.
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So my father, my grandfather, my great-grandfather as well.
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So we have quite a family history going back, but going forward, my husband, we got married soon after I was commissioned and we enjoyed a career together.
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He was an army helicopter pilot.
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So the kids could often kind of better relate to what he did than what Tamam did as a JAG officer.
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But, you know, our kids grew up all over the US and Germany.
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So they lived a very different type of lifestyle.
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And I'm not at all surprised.
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Our oldest son, Zach, graduated from Syracuse in 2021 as the aerospace engineer.
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And he just finished up his four years in the Army.
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So he served as a young officer at the in the big red one out at Fort Riley, Kansas.
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And we couldn't be more proud of him and his military service.
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That's terrific.
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And of course, you have deep orange roots now, which you didn't have, but you have developed very deep Syracuse University orange roots from your first role on campus with the Institute for Veterans and Military Families to your role now at the law school.
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And football.
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I think you have a football player in the family.
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So our oldest son, Zach, you know, came here to Syracuse through an Army ROTC scholarship, has already completed his uh four-year commitment in the Army.
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Kind of surprising, but not really looking back.
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Our son Josh is currently a senior here at Syracuse.
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He is also in Army ROTC.
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And he went to advanced camp this past summer, where he spent over 30 days challenging land navigation and leadership and marksmanship training.
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And so he did great at Fort Knox, Kentucky for that.
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And he wanted to go as early in the summer as possible so that he could get right back to the football field where he's a linebacker for the Syracuse football team.
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And it may seem like kind of opposite types of callings, but I think his training as a leader in Army ROTC and his leadership on the athletic field have really come together in unexpected ways for him.
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And we're very proud of him as well.
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He's looking forward to graduating after his time is done at Syracuse and probably following in my husband Mike's footsteps as a helicopter pilot.
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Wow, that's amazing.
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That is amazing.
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That's a very long family tradition of military service for sure.
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So after military service and law school included in that, what led you to pursue the career in higher education and brought you to Syracuse?
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Yeah, our family moved to this area from Germany, fully expecting to be here for three years.
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And that's what I told the real estate agent.
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I'm looking for a house in a good neighborhood, a good school district, and a house with good resale value because we're as soon as you know we're gonna buy it and then we're gonna be out of here in three years and we're gonna sell it all over again.
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Famous last words.
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So we really enjoyed living here in the Syracuse area.
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My husband was the professor of military science here at Syracuse for the Army ROTC program.
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And um, I was stationed up about an hour north at the storied Fort Drum 10th Mountain Division.
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And I was the first female military judge there.
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So I did a tour as the military judge, presiding over all of the courts martials for the installation and traveling around and doing the same for other military bases.
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So the army brought us to Syracuse, and we just decided to go ahead and make it our home.
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That's fantastic.
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So after you finished being the first woman to hold that role at Fort Drum, our beloved 10th Mountain here in the uh central New York region.
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How did you get to Syracuse University?
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While my husband served as the professor of military science here at Syracuse, we got invited to all sorts of events and ceremonies, and we got a little glimpse into life at Syracuse University.
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And a lot of the events that we were invited to were hosted by the Institute for Veterans and Military Families, which at that time was really growing, was located in a different building, smaller building across campus.
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And once I met some of the individuals who were part of that program and on that staff, I realized, wow, there's an opportunity to continue to serve in a different way after we take off the uniform.
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So I was really excited to come on board at the IVMF and I served as the senior director for community engagement.
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And in that role, I got to work with communities all over the country and help them integrate services for veterans in their cities or in their local areas.
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And I was really enjoying what I did.
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The IVMF was growing and expanding.
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We had, you know, a little model of what this brand new building was going to look like down the hill.
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And I had an office designated in that architectural blueprint.
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And then all of a sudden, I learned that the Veterans Clinic at the College of Law would be having an opening for their director position.
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And I put my name in the hat for that and was really thrilled to be able to kind of come across down the hill a little bit into this role at the College of Law.
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That's terrific.
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I think you moved offices from what we lovingly refer to as the old law school building to the new law school building.
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I did, yes.
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So can you tell us a little bit then about the clinic?
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Um I don't know that maybe our listeners understand, but we, you know, it's the Betty and Michael D.
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Wall Veterans Legal Clinic.
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But who does it serve?
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What kinds of legal issues do you help veterans and their families address?
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Sure.
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The uh Veterans Legal Clinic here serves veterans local here in our community and focuses on VA disability claims.
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It comes as a surprise to many Americans that veterans don't automatically have full access to walk inside the Syracuse VA Medical Center and be seen for their health care issues.
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The veteran has to go through a process of submitting a claim and showing the VA that their current medical condition that they're suffering for is somehow connected to their service.
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So that can be easy for some veterans, especially if they go through that process while they're transitioning out of the military.
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But as you can imagine, if there's veterans who have uh transitioned out and time has passed and maybe some unfortunate circumstances have intervened, it can quickly become very complex and very difficult.
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So our clinic here at the College of Law focuses on veterans' VA disability benefits, which entitles them often to monetary compensation and to access to VA health care.
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Just critically important pieces, you know, and especially for individuals who are maybe used to you know that the government just provided for them because they were providing a service, and now they have to figure out as a civilian how to make their way through all of those sort of bureaucratic pieces.
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So one thing that's really impressed me, Beth, is how much you've grown that clinic since you've been there.
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Do you want to talk a little bit about the expansion in the grants?
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Sure.
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We're really honored.
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I think when you start any kind of project, you get it moving and you you get it headed in the right direction.
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And then you kind of wonder about, you know, are are we really serving the types of veterans that need our assistance the most?
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And what really helped us learn who those veterans were that probably needed us the most, three years ago, we applied for and received a federal grant from the U.S.
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Department of Veterans Affairs that was specifically to provide legal services for homeless veterans.
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And we are one of about 125 grant recipients across the country, one of, I believe, four institutes of four law schools who are recipients.
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So we quickly learned through that grant that there was a homeless population here in our community that really needed assistance.
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And we got partnered with the Healthcare for Homeless Veterans team right down the street at the Syracuse VA Medical Center.
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And we've had a direct connection to a group of veterans who are residing in temporary housing facilities that really need our assistance.
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And we've been working directly with them.
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And we're on the third year of that grant now.
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So we just got awarded the third year at the beginning of October.
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So thank you.
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We're excited to continue that work, and it's such a great outcome for the veterans that we work with and a really meaningful experience for this the law school students who go to that.
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We go to that facility every Tuesday morning, and those veterans are lined up waiting for their students.
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And, you know, one of them we just closed out the other day.
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We got that veteran from no VA benefits whatsoever to a 100% rating and to VA healthcare for life.
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That's fantastic.
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Truly making a difference.
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Yeah.
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And I don't, you know, for our listeners who don't understand the geography of this, when Beth says down the street, it's literally the law school, two parking garages, and then the VA.
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And, you know, I think as students might walk by and not really understand what was happening there.
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So it's so important that you're taking students into the building to serve those who have served us.
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It's really fantastic.
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Uh, it's obvious that supporting veterans, military members, and their families, it's a passion of interest.
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You know, beyond the obvious, why do you think it's so important for law schools, students and the legal profession to be involved in this kind of work?
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So the type of services we provide at at all of the clinics here at the College of Law are legal services for those who would otherwise not be able to afford an attorney, who would not understand even what type of assistance is out there to help.
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Uh, I think it's critical for a law school student in their formative years in law school to be able to understand how to relate to clients, how to communicate good news, how to communicate bad news, how to explain complex government processes, what to do when you have all the legal mechanisms that you have to bring to bear on a situation, but your client may not have the food that they need for the next day.
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So all of those things are very important for a young attorney to learn about and to be able to think veterans is, you know, one piece of the population that uh is often in need.
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And I think it's even more important that young people today understand what it means to serve and what it means for veterans who have served our country, but who may not be able to leverage all the benefits that they truly have earned and do deserve.
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Yeah, those are important such important lessons and ways for the students to connect, you know, with the greater community as well.
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So Al Bond was thrilled to partner with your clinic earlier this fall for a Veterans Trust in the States Clinic.
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Why do you think it's important for law firms, the private sector, to support veterans and probability, the other clinics, but veterans and military families, particularly for this instance, both within our organizations and the broader community?
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Why are law firms an important partner?
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We were so thrilled to partner with Bond earlier this fall for our VetFest and for Bond to bring their expertise in estate planning and wills and powers of attorney to provide those services to some of our local veteran population.
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I think it's important for a number of reasons.
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Number one, I really think that veterans are a group that has have a unique set of challenges.
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And, you know, many of those challenges were brought on due to their military service.
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So I just believe that all Americans owe a bit of gratitude to anyone who has worn the uniform or has served our nation.
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And what may seem like little matters to a large firm is often a very big deal to someone who may not be in a situation to afford to pay for a will.
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And I think any opportunity that our legal community has to gain a better understanding of the challenges of today's veterans will hopefully better inform the resources and the programs and the respect that our country gives them and will hopefully help fix immediate challenges and then inform change on the other side.
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That's an excellent point, Beth, right?
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Work on the immediate challenges, but inform the change because you're educating people in the bar about some of the needs of the veterans and little ways to give back that really do have a big impact.
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Well, so as someone who did wear the uniform, and as we approach Veterans Day, what does Veterans Day mean to you?
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I just want to share that Veterans Day here at Syracuse University and in our community, our community deserves a round of applause.
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Here at the College of Law, we had a Veterans Day ceremony yesterday in which our own veteran students gave their stories.
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And so I think that helps introduce them in a different way to their classmates and helps also kind of share their perspectives with our staff and faculty here so that we can all gain a better connection to those who served.
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Then next week at 11 o'clock on Tuesday, we'll have a big Veterans Day ceremony at our National Veterans Resource Center.
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And there's always a meaningful speaker.
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And it's just amazing to see the entire community come out and support an event like that.
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It's funny, I think as a veteran myself, sometimes I want the spotlight to be on others.
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I think many veterans would tell you that it's not about them.
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So that's why it's so important to me to see students here of the College of Law and our community turn out in such a meaningful way to celebrate Veterans Day.
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But it is, it is a little different when you're serving and you're assigned to Fort Hood or you're assigned to Fort Drum or you're over in Germany.
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Like everyone's together, like there's a common understanding.
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And it can be a little bit of a challenge when you do leave the military and transition to a community.
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And it's always easier when you feel like there's an understanding by those around you of what you did, uh, whether or not you want to wear it on your t-shirt or put a bumper sticker on your car, or whether you just want it to kind of be it be a piece of you for others to recognize that service.
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Yeah.
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And I at Syracuse also on our um alumni weekend, we honored veterans at halftime football games, which just may happen to have been Syracuse University College of Law alone as well.
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So I think that really the IVMF working with the College of Law has really done a lot to raise the profile of the importance of serving veterans in our community.
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The 10th mountain is is such a large space and so often deployed that folks from 10th Mountain are all over our community.
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And the same is true with listeners across the US, right?
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If you're in your base.
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And even if you're not, there are veterans in your communities and in your lives.
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Absolutely.
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Absolutely.
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So besides honoring veterans, what can individuals and organizations do to support veterans in meaningful ways?
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As you mentioned, sometimes the transition is difficult.
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Sometimes those services they need are brought on by wearing their experiences from wearing the uniform.
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What are some ways individuals can help?
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I think individuals first not being afraid to ask a couple questions to spark up a conversation.
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You might run into someone in your day-to-day life.
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And with my students, during one of the first weeks in class, I often share with them a video that teaches some basic cultural competency.
00:22:14.880 --> 00:22:20.720
And I love it because it says, ask the vet at if you run into someone, ask, like, did you serve?
00:22:20.880 --> 00:22:24.559
And if they say yes, then you ask, what did you do when you served?
00:22:24.720 --> 00:22:30.160
It doesn't have to be a complicated conversation, but simply asking, oh, what did you do?
00:22:30.319 --> 00:22:31.839
Uh, what are you most proud of?
00:22:32.079 --> 00:22:37.359
I think just breaking down that uncertain barrier that might be there.
00:22:37.519 --> 00:22:43.359
And I guarantee, you know, my my law school students often get very nervous about their first interview with their clients.
00:22:43.519 --> 00:22:46.960
And I tell them all you have to say is good morning, and then sit back.
00:22:47.599 --> 00:22:51.519
And um, many veterans have amazing stories.
00:22:51.680 --> 00:22:57.680
Uh, they've traveled far away from home, they've done things that no one in their family has ever done before.
00:22:57.920 --> 00:23:09.279
And simply recognizing that and then learning that there might be a way you might not have realized it, but there might be a way you could help out, whether it's with a local nonprofit or a lot of our students.
00:23:09.440 --> 00:23:38.559
Like I said, they may be helping a homeless veteran here in clinic, but I fully expect that many of them will go on to leadership positions at firms, to positions within our government, whether it's state, local, or federal, where they have the understanding of what our country, you know, is is capable of and of what changes might be appropriate to better enhance the lives of our veterans in many ways.
00:23:38.960 --> 00:23:39.680
That's terrific.
00:23:39.759 --> 00:23:43.440
And you're right, that cultural competency, it's so important.
00:23:43.759 --> 00:23:53.359
And just asking some simple questions, you can really people feel seen and then listen and hear their story, and you can learn just so absolutely so much.
00:23:53.519 --> 00:23:57.920
So I um I was born just after my dad got out of the army.
00:23:58.000 --> 00:24:14.000
So we didn't um travel much, but we took our kids to uh Fort Carson and to Colorado Springs to see where they where their grandparents lived and to see the base because it's an important part of our history and as a family, but also so that they understand the situation.
00:24:14.559 --> 00:24:15.440
That's fantastic.
00:24:15.599 --> 00:24:18.240
It's a beautiful, beautiful location, Port Carson.
00:24:18.559 --> 00:24:20.640
Definitely they didn't get the worst of it.
00:24:22.960 --> 00:24:24.960
It really is just completely gorgeous.
00:24:25.119 --> 00:24:32.240
But you know, I I do think it's so important that you know, if there's not someone in your family, ask the questions, talk to other people.
00:24:32.400 --> 00:24:41.839
I mean, my dad would have you know constantly told me no one could make that shot from every TV show because he was, you know, the marked mid-range and that was his role.
00:24:41.920 --> 00:24:43.119
And so I'm like, I stand.
00:24:45.359 --> 00:24:48.319
He wanted to talk about his experience and what he did.
00:24:48.799 --> 00:24:50.240
I appreciate all that you do.
00:24:50.400 --> 00:24:52.319
I love that the students are engaged.
00:24:52.559 --> 00:24:56.240
You have fantastic students and your fellows who I got the chance to meet.
00:24:56.319 --> 00:25:02.160
So you're building a great team that's teaching while serving, which is really such an important piece.
00:25:02.400 --> 00:25:03.680
So thank you for that.
00:25:03.920 --> 00:25:05.839
Thanks on behalf of all of the SIP Bond.
00:25:06.079 --> 00:25:09.759
Thank you for your service and thank you for your ongoing work to support that.
00:25:10.640 --> 00:25:11.519
It's my honor.
00:25:11.680 --> 00:25:12.319
Thanks so much.
00:25:12.640 --> 00:25:20.079
We also want to extend our gratitude to all the veterans of the US military and of course to the Bond team members and their families who are serving or have served.
00:25:20.400 --> 00:25:25.839
So will you come back to do a future episode and share some updates on the clinic's work and veterans' advocacy?
00:25:26.240 --> 00:25:27.359
Absolutely, anytime.
00:25:27.680 --> 00:25:28.160
Terrific.
00:25:28.240 --> 00:25:28.400
Thanks.
00:25:28.640 --> 00:25:32.720
I don't know that we'll meet at the Supreme Court beforehand, but maybe we can at least talk.
00:25:34.640 --> 00:25:35.440
Sounds good.
00:25:35.680 --> 00:25:37.039
All right, thanks again, though.
00:25:37.359 --> 00:25:38.319
Thank you, Kim.
00:25:42.480 --> 00:25:45.039
Thank you for tuning into this episode of Legally Bond.
00:25:45.119 --> 00:25:53.519
If you're listening and have any questions for me, want to hear from someone at the firm, or suggestion for a future topic, please email us at legally bond at bsk.com.
00:25:53.759 --> 00:25:58.079
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00:25:58.240 --> 00:26:00.079
Until our next talk, be well.
00:26:04.480 --> 00:26:09.680
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