The U.S. Senate confirmed Stetson University College of Law Veterans Law Institute director and Professor of Law Michael P. Allen as a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, based in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 3.

Professor Allen is a renowned expert on the law of veterans’ benefits, and has testified before Congress and written widely on veterans’ benefits issues.

“I have to acknowledge the thousands of students I’ve taught at Stetson University College of Law,” Allen told the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs during the hearing on his nomination on July 19 in Washington, D.C. “I can assure you that they’ve given me far more than I ever taught them.”

Allen has served in a variety of roles at Stetson since 2001, receiving numerous awards for excellence in scholarship and teaching as a professor for 16 years and as an associate dean for four years, overseeing both academic affairs and faculty and strategic initiatives.

Stetson’s Veterans Law Institute, founded in 2012, serves to increase legal services available to the growing population of military members, veterans and their families in the Tampa Bay, Florida, region by bringing together volunteers, faculty, students and other community organizations. Stetson’s Veterans Advocacy Clinic, as part of the Institute, provides representation to Tampa Bay area veterans appealing decisions denying Veterans Administration disability benefits.

Stetson Law alumnus James M. Byrne J.D. ’95 was confirmed as Department of Veterans Affairs general counsel on Aug. 3.