The Precedent Brief.
What your claim was missing.
A filed-ready PDF with 10 real Board of Veterans' Appeals decisions — 8 analogous matches to the facts of your claim, plus 2 instructive contrasts showing what the Board declinedto grant on similar facts. Verbatim Findings of Fact. Verbatim Reasons & Bases. A suggested citation on every decision card so you can drop it straight into a 21-4138.
Plain English: what is this?
When the VA decides your claim, the rater and the Board have discretion — but they're heavily influenced by how the Board has ruled on similar facts before. A veteran walking in with “here are 8 recent Board decisions where they granted this exact theory — plus 2 more where they denied it, and here's the evidence gap I fixed” is dramatically more persuasive than a veteran arguing from scratch. That's the Precedent Brief. Retrieval output + cover memo — you (or your accredited rep) tie the cited facts to your record.
The sample is a full 10-decision brief built from a canonical “sleep apnea secondary to PTSD” fact pattern — exactly what you'll get, just not tied to your specific claim.
What's inside
A 10–15 page PDF, built around your facts.
- 01
Cover page
Your condition, nexus theory, outcome filter, decision count, generation date. Plus the 38 CFR § 20.1303 disclaimer so the rater sees it's been filed correctly.
- 02
Your claim summary
The fact pattern you gave us, stored verbatim, with an explanation of how the 10 decisions were selected (semantic similarity ranking across 4,018 indexed BVA decisions).
- 03
8 analogous Board decisions
One card per decision: Citation Nr, date, disposition, nexus theory tags, verbatim Findings of Fact (the Board's factual conclusions), verbatim Reasons & Bases (the Board's legal reasoning), the va.gov full-text link, and a suggested Bluebook-style citation line you can paste into any VA form.
- 04
2 instructive contrasts
Decisions with fact patterns similar to yours where the Board reached the opposite outcome. Read these to understand the evidence gaps the Board flagged — and to pre-empt them in your filing. Same verbatim FoF + R&B treatment as the analogous matches.
- 05
How-to-cite memo
Where to drop the suggested-citation line in VA Form 21-4138 (Statement in Support), VA Form 20-0995 (Supplemental), VA Form 20-0996 (Higher-Level Review), and VA Form 10182 (Board Appeal). Plus the evidence-framing language that makes raters take analogous precedent seriously.
Extraction only.Every quoted passage is pulled verbatim from the Board's published decision. No AI rewording of Board text. No synthesized case summaries. If it's in quotes in your brief, it's what the Board actually wrote.
How vets use it
Four steps from download to filing.
- 1
Read the Reasons & Bases
Find the decision closest to your facts and read what evidence actually persuaded the Board. That's your roadmap for what evidence to gather.
- 2
Paste the suggested-citation line
Every card has a ready-to-use Bluebook-style citation: 'Bd. Vet. App. No. 24001576 (Jan. 10, 2024) (granting service connection for sleep apnea on a secondary theory).' Drop it verbatim into VA Form 21-4138.
- 3
Attach the brief as an exhibit
File your 21-4138 / 20-0995 / 20-0996 with the brief attached. Raters and Board judges routinely give persuasive weight to recent analogous decisions — even though BVA rulings are non-precedential under 38 CFR § 20.1303.
- 4
Pair with a nexus letter
If your theory is direct or secondary, pair the brief with a doctor-signed nexus letter. Use the free nexus-letter drafter on this site if you don't already have one.
Who this is for
Three kinds of veteran file this.
Your claim was denied and you're appealing
Filing a Supplemental Claim (20-0995) or Higher-Level Review (20-0996)? Analogous grants are the single most persuasive new evidence you can submit alongside a nexus letter.
Your claim is pending and the evidence is thin
Filed a Fully Developed Claim but the medical record is light? Drop the brief in as a 21-4138 supplement before the rater makes a decision.
You've filed a Board Appeal
10182 Board Appeal, Evidence Submission or Hearing lane? The Board takes judicial notice of its own prior decisions — cite them.
Cost comparison
$99 flat. No percentage. No subscription.
| Option | Cost | What you get |
|---|---|---|
Claim-shark firms Trajector · Veterans Guardian | $3,000–$20,000 | Percentage of back-pay or 5× your first monthly award. FTC fined Trajector in 2024 for deceptive practices. |
VA-accredited attorney Past initial decision only | 20% of back-pay | Full representation. Cannot charge until after an initial decision (38 USC § 5904). |
Free VSO (DAV, VFW, American Legion) Overloaded | Free | Representation, but weeks-long waits and quality varies. Most don't run precedent research per claim. |
Precedent Brief You are here | $99 flat | 10 Board decisions (8 analogous matches + 2 instructive contrasts) with verbatim Findings of Fact + Reasons & Bases, suggested citations, placement guidance. Delivered in 60 seconds. Not representation. |
Software, not legal representation. For representation before the VA, locate a VA-accredited rep at VA.gov.
FAQ
Questions vets ask before buying.
›Is this legal? Am I allowed to cite BVA decisions in my claim?
Yes. BVA decisions are public record under 38 USC § 7104 and they're routinely cited in VA filings. They're non-precedential under 38 CFR § 20.1303, meaning they don't bind future decisions — but the Board and rating officials regularly give analogous decisions persuasive weight. The brief includes the correct disclaimer language on the cover page.
›Why not hire a VSO or claim-shark firm to do this for me?
Free VSOs don't run decision-level precedent research per claim — they're overloaded with direct filings. Claim-shark firms charge $3,000–$20,000 or a percentage of your back-pay to do the same retrieval-and-summary work. The Precedent Brief is a flat $99 for the research product; the filing itself is still up to you or your accredited rep.
›How does the matching work? Is it just keyword search?
Semantic similarity via OpenAI embeddings against 4,018 indexed BVA decisions (2023–2024, expanding monthly). Your condition + fact pattern are embedded and matched against the verbatim text of every decision in the corpus, filtered by nexus theory and outcome. The 8 highest-similarity matches go in the brief, plus 2 instructive contrasts.
›What if there aren't 10 analogous decisions for my claim?
The system locks in the top matches by similarity at purchase time. If zero analogous matches for your requested outcome exist in the corpus, you'll see an error before being charged. If fewer than 8 matches exist, the brief ships with however many real matches we have plus the 2 contrasts — we never pad with irrelevant filler, and you're never billed for a thin brief.
›Can I get a refund if the brief isn't useful?
The product is the retrieval output. We show you which decisions will appear in the free preview at nexusvetclaims.com/precedent before you pay — run that search first to confirm the matches look relevant to your facts. Refunds for technical failures (e.g., PDF rendering error) are honored on request via email.
›What about Reasons & Bases — is that always filled in?
Usually yes, but not always. Some BVA decisions (short AMA remands, administrative dismissals) don't include a full Reasons & Bases section. In those cases the card shows Findings of Fact only. The 10 decisions are ranked by relevance to your facts, not by how much content each has.
›Why 8 grants + 2 denials instead of 10 grants?
Similarity decay — matches 9 and 10 are usually noticeably weaker than the top 8. A tight brief is more persuasive than a padded one. The 2 denials aren't filler: they're decisions where the Board rejected a claim on facts similar to yours, which tells you what evidence gaps the rater will look for. Pre-empting those gaps is dramatically more persuasive than just showing 10 wins.
›I'm already working with an attorney. Is this still useful?
Yes. Accredited attorneys and agents use the brief as research they'd otherwise pay a paralegal to do. You can forward the PDF directly to your rep.
Buy now
Build your Precedent Brief.
$99 one-time. PDF delivered to your inbox within 60 seconds of payment.
Want to see what you're getting first? Download the sample brief → · Or run a free preview search against your own facts.