WILLIAMSBURG – Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) came to speak Wednesday at the orientation of the College of William and Mary Law School class of 2016 and brought some good news with him.

Running about an hour late after attending a funeral, Warner announced that the Department of Veterans Affairs has certified W&M's Lewis B. Puller, Jr. Veterans Benefits Clinic as a national "best practices" program for expedited submission of disability claims.

"It will be only the third certified program," Warner said. "The American Legion and the Disabled American Veterans are the only other two."

That may soon change.

"I've been talking to some other senators, and as many as fifteen other law schools across the country plan to open their own clinics, modeled on what your predecessors here at the William and Mary Law School have done," Warner said to applause.

The Puller Clinic accepted its first clients in 2008. Since then more than 90 law students, working under the supervision of managing attorneys, have worked with hundreds of veterans to process disability claims. The VA can process a fully developed claim, which includes supporting evidence, in half the time required to process a traditional claim.

Warner explained to the students why that's important.

"We have not done a good job of keeping our bargain with our veterans," he said, noting the VA has more than 800,000 outstanding claims,500,000 of them backlogged."

Warner sent a letter to other senators this year to promote the law school model. He also met with Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki to advocate for the Puller Clinic program as a national model.

"This is a win-win-win," Warner said. "Veterans get quicker approval for benefits they have earned, the VA can move quicker through its backlog because it will be receiving more complete and accurate claims, and William and Mary law students will develop new legal skills as well as a respect for pro bono service."

"The Puller Clinic's holistic approach to claims management – combining legal and psychological assistance – provides a national model for how law schools across the country can help solve the nation's backlog of veterans' benefits claims," W&M President Taylor Reveley said in a statement. "Today's announcement... reflects the tireless leadership of Senator Mark Warner, the great work being done at William and Mary Law School, and the determination of the VA to work collaboratively to address the needs of our veterans."

"We're delighted to have the Puller Clinic join the effort to increase the number of veterans filing fully developed claims," said Under Secretary of Veterans Affairs Allison A. Hickey in a release announcing the certification. "It's indicative of the growing national commitment to the timely delivery of veterans benefits."

William and Mary has also created Helping Military Veterans through Higher Education (HMVHE), a consortium of 19 universities in Virginia committed to serving veterans.

After the announcement and short speech, Warner took questions from the students on topics that ranged from political gridlock to what can be done about the nation's growing student loan burden.

On the latter, Warner said the country might consider re-organizing higher education, perhaps granting more credit for high school work and advanced placement testing to reduce undergraduate time to three years. He also said colleges need to be held accountable for the job they do.

"You'll leave here okay," he said to the students. "But what about the student who runs up $40,000 or $50,000 of debt and leaves without getting a degree?"

Warner suggested colleges should pay part of that debt, in effect penalizing institutions with low graduation rates.