Amanda Spector

VLJ Spector exhibits attributes no one should ever have to deal with in a professional work environment. Drafting decisions is difficult work and requires communication and discussions with a VLJ. VLJ Spector simply does not communicate or engage in constructive discussions. She responds to questions hours to days after being asked, and avoids using Teams or her government-issued phone to talk about cases. It's as though she doesn't want to deal with it or be bothered. VLJ Spector also doesn't seem to care about attorney production quotas, and has no qualms about assigning fewer cases in a pay period than an attorney is required to produce. Less work for her! What's worse, even, is that once she finally gets to reviewing a case draft weeks to months after submission, her "grading" seems to depend on her mood in that particular moment. Her "feedback" in a standardized, bullet format, is destructive and belittling. Worse of all, however, is that her feedback is contradictory, inconsistent, and often times shockingly incorrect. She does not send an email for a job well done. Acknowledging good work seems to be painful to her. It is my opinion VLJ Spector should never have been promoted to VLJ, and requires intensive training both in Veterans Benefits Law as well as interpersonal and leadership skills. She is shockingly and disturbingly deficient in these categories. VLJ Spector has no place managing legal practitioners (or anyone else) in an environment where empathy, professionalism and dignity are required to foster an ICARE team environment and serve our Nation's Veterans.