BVA.
Board of Veterans' Appeals (VA). No published AI policy for representative practice as of May 2026.
BVA AI policy status. #
The Board of Veterans' Appeals (BVA), within the Department of Veterans Affairs, hears appeals of regional-office benefits decisions. Representative practice is governed by VA accreditation (38 CFR Part 14), available to attorneys, claims agents, and accredited Veteran Service Officers (VSOs). The BVA has not published an AI policy for representative practice as of May 2026. The Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (CAVC) — the Article I appellate court reviewing BVA decisions — also has no published AI standing rule, though individual judges may issue orders.
Authoritative source: https://www.bva.va.gov/
Last verified: . If this row text disagrees with the linked source, the source controls.
Why BVA matters. #
VA benefits adjudication is one of the highest-volume practice areas in federal administrative law, with approximately 100,000+ BVA appeals per year and millions of regional-office decisions feeding into them. Veterans depend heavily on representative assistance, particularly through VSOs. AI-assisted preparation of statements of the case, medical-nexus arguments, and PTSD-stressor documentation is common. The absence of formal guidance leaves a regulatory gap.
Practice implications. #
Accredited representatives should default to ABA Op. 512 principles (for attorneys) or the comparable supervisory framework (for non-attorney accredited representatives). The verification duty applies regardless of representative type. VA accreditation can be revoked for misconduct including the submission of false or fabricated material — AI-generated hallucinated content is at risk of falling within that prohibition even absent specific AI guidance.