38 U.S.C. § 5903
Section 5903 · Recognition with respect to particular claims
Amended 4 times on record
Applied in 3 court decisions — leading case Shepard v. West (1998)
Most recently applied in R. Edward Bates v. Anthony J. Principi (February 2004)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
(a) In General.—The Secretary may recognize any individual for the preparation, presentation, and prosecution of any particular claim for benefits under any of the laws administered by the Secretary if—
(1) such individual has certified to the Secretary that no fee or compensation of any nature will be charged any individual for services rendered in connection with such claim; and
(2) such individual has filed with the Secretary a power of attorney, executed in such manner and in such form as the Secretary may prescribe.
(b) Suspension.—An individual recognized under this section shall be subject to the provisions of section 5904(b) of this title on the same basis as an individual recognized under section 5904(a) of this title.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Amendments
2006—Pub. L. 109–461 designated existing provisions as subsec. (a), inserted heading, and added subsec. (b).
1991—Pub. L. 102–40 renumbered section 3403 of this title as this section.
Pub. L. 102–83, §4(b)(1), (2)(E), substituted “Secretary” for “Administrator” in introductory provisions and wherever appearing in pars. (1) and (2).
Pub. L. 102–83, §4(a)(1), substituted “administered by the Secretary” for “administered by the Veterans’ Administration” in introductory provisions.