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No, that’s not the process.

VA accredited attorney means they have studied the statutes and regulatory paragraphs of the VA. This it not part of law school. It’s a specialty. A non accredited attorney won’t know how to fight effectively unless they accumulated the info all via experience. And if they have, there would be no reason not to take the accreditation exam.

As for who pays who, it’s like all civil cases. The claim is brought against a defendant. The minute a veteran files an intent to file a claim, a clock starts. The Intent to File event is actually there to start that clock while the veteran puts together his or her claim.

Lawyers only can represent veterans who have that claim denied.

Once denied then the lawyer is allowed to step up and find a flaw with the denial, or help the vet gather more evidence in support of the claim.

If the veteran eventually wins his claim, there is backpay back to the original “Intent to File” date. If it’s 2 years delay, and it was 100% disabled (this overall scenario is kind of rare, but this is the idea) then that veteran will start collecting about $50K/year tax free. And it is backdated to the Intent to File date. 2 years would be 2X$50K backpay and then ongoing monthly check.

The lawyer’s fee is X% of the backpay. It’s the veteran paying him, but the veteran pays X% of backpay the lawyer so if he does not win the claim, the fee will be 0 and that’s a lot of lawyer hours unpaid. Which is why the lawyers in this field only take cases they know will win.

Just like all lawyers in all fields.

So no. The lawyer is not inclined to save the VA money. Quite the reverse.