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Leila A. Early

Before becoming an advocate for veterans in their disability claims, attorney Leila Early had a long career as an occupational therapist, including two years at the Department of Veterans Affairs. After earning her law degree, she worked in Veterans Benefits Administration for the VA for nearly a decade, reviewing benefits claims and determining disability ratings.

Her extensive medical knowledge and experience combined with her legal training and subject matter expertise in VA regulations makes her a uniquely powerful and skillful advocate for her veteran clients. Leila has considerable expertise and knowledge into the laws and regulations governing VA disability and how claims are handled. She also has an understanding of the daily struggles — physical, emotional and financial — that disabled veterans may be going through in their lives.

She works out of the Deuterman Law Group’s Greensboro office.

From an early age, Leila has been interested in helping others. Her father was a physician at the VA Medical Center in Fayetteville for 30 years, and she volunteered at the VA hospital there during summers in high school. While she enjoyed her work in the medical field, Leila was drawn to the law because she wanted to do even more to help improve the lives of others on a broader scale.

Leila earned her juris doctor, summa cum laude, from N.C. Central University School of Law in 2011, graduating in the top 3 percent of her class, all while working full-time and starting a family. While in law school, she was a senior editor on the North Carolina Central Law Review, and evening program representative of the Student Bar Association. Leila earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from UNC-Chapel Hill in 1999 and a Master of Science in Occupational Therapy, cum laude, from UNC-Chapel Hill in 2002.

As an occupational therapist, she worked for Duke University Health System, UNC Health Care, Cone Health, Kindred Hospital, Select Specialty Hospital and the Durham VA Medical Center. Leila worked with patients whose orthopedic, medical-surgical, neurological, and oncological diagnoses affected their daily living activities and mobility.

As an employee of the Veterans Benefits Administration, Leila worked as a Rating Veterans Service Representative, evaluating and adjudicating claims and reviewing medical records to determine service-connected disability ratings. At the VA, she earned Veterans Benefits Administration Master Instructor Certification, a rigorous instructor candidate training and evaluation program. She was later promoted to the position of Decision Review Officer and Rating Quality Review Specialist at the VA, ensuring that Veterans and their families received quality and timely decisions regarding their benefits.

Leila’s past legal experience includes a position as an associate attorney with The Jernigan Law Firm in Raleigh, where she handled workers’ compensation and personal injury claims.

Leila is a member of the National Organization of Veterans’ Advocates (NOVA), the N.C. Advocates for Justice (NCAJ) and the N.C. Bar Association.

She lives in Greensboro with her husband and their two children.

In her free time, Leila enjoys playing mahjong and tennis. She also is a member of two book clubs, and volunteers at her children’s schools.