Veterans Helping Veterans at USD's Veterans Legal Clinic

After spending four and a half years in the Navy, Otto Lange was looking for a new opportunity. He was looking for something that would bring fulfillment to his life, like the military had, but also keep him settled in one place instead of relocating every few years.

Otto’s wife graduated from USD’s School of Law in 2019 and he had a front row seat to what life as an attorney could look like – and decided to pursue it himself.

Once he was at USD,  he was happy to find the Military and Veterans Program on campus to help with networking and also the School of Law’s Mil Bar organization to bond with fellow veteran students. 

“You have an immediate network of people who have gone through similar experiences and understand your background,” said Otto Lange, a second year law student. “It is a little bit of a weird transition into law school because so many students are young when they start, 22 or 23 years old, and veteran students are going to be in their late 20s, early 30s. It’s nice to have a community of people who are a little older, have a little more life experience and understand the transition from military life to civilian life.” 

As a veteran, Otto specifically sought out the Veterans Legal Clinic, one of 12 legal clinics at USD's School of Law (another clinic is joining in January, making it 13) that offers free legal services to the community while providing practical legal skills to students who work on the cases, under the supervision of a supervising attorney. 

Otto says his experience with the Veterans Legal Clinic, assisting clients with updating their service records, filing for VA benefits, has been rewarding as he helps veterans navigate administrative judicial legal challenges and helps them receive the benefits they are entitled to and have earned.

“My discharge process is different from a lot of the clients that the Veterans Legal Clinic works with, same thing in the workplace. You don’t know what someone’s story is, and having an understanding that other people’s stories are different from yours and also developing sympathy and empathy is going to do wonders to network and build relationships with other veterans,” Otto shared. 

At the Veterans Legal Clinic, three out of the six law students are veterans themselves and one is military-connected as the daughter of veterans. The two staff attorneys are both military spouses and daughters of veterans, as is their paralegal. This military-connected team is helping their fellow veterans with free legal support while providing invaluable understanding of what these veterans may be going through after being discharged.