In his line of work - filing claims for disability benefits with the Department of Veterans Affairs - there's no shortage of clients and virtually no competition from other lawyers.

That's because a Civil War-era law meant to protect veterans from unscrupulous lawyers barred payments to them, and a 1988 change still limits payments.

Veterans have come to rely on a hit-or-miss infrastructure of pro bono lawyers, advocates within the VA, and agents of veterans service organizations such as AMVETS, to guide them through their claims.

Even a spokesman for the VA describes the paperwork-heavy process as "complex and, at times, long and difficult."

So Taub, 32, a staff attorney at the Philadelphia Bar Association's Homeless Advocacy Project, whose services are free, has become a hero among veterans, partly for just being there for them, and partly for scoring some big wins - $125,000 in back benefits for one veteran, $90,000 for another. "He pulled me out of the dirt," said John Lavery, 55, a long-homeless Vietnam War veteran who hit the benefits jackpot in May with Taub's help.

But if Lavery's future is looking up, Taub's suddenly is uncertain. Funds to pay his $40,000 salary run out in a year. "Just as we got these huge awards for these veterans," Taub said, "funding for my position is gone."

Lavery first applied for benefits in 1977. Sometimes he was not diligent in following up; sometimes he felt discouraged by the service-organization counselors he saw.

He said that during his three years in the Army, from 1967 to 1970, he served in "hostile zones" in Southeast Asia. He then spent time at the Pentagon sorting "gory" battlefield photographs. The pictures triggered anger, tearfulness and survivor's guilt in him, he said.

He lost his marriage and took comfort for years in booze and "speed."

Finally deemed to be 100 percent disabled with a bipolar disorder, Lavery this year was granted more than $40,000 in back benefits and $2,299 a month - the maximum disability compensation. For the first time in years, he could buy new clothes and shoes. After decades of wandering the country and "catching winks in doorways and on benches," he is also looking for an apartment.

Taub joined the advocacy group nearly two years ago, shortly after graduating from Villanova University law school and after a brief stint at a Center City law firm.

When the veterans project began four years ago under Taub's predecessor, the group's executive director, Marsha I. Cohen, believed that there were about 300 homeless veterans in the Philadelphia area and that all of them would have their claims decided in a couple of years.

The project got two years of funds, about $80,000, from the Independence Foundation.

But even as those funds ran out and the lawyer moved on, the number of veterans coming in for help rose past 300.

Estimates of the number of homeless veterans in the Philadelphia area range from 750, the number offered by Tom Lastowka, director of the VA regional office in Germantown, to 2,500, according to Marsha L. Four, program director for homeless veterans services at the Philadelphia Veterans Multi-Service and Education Center, on Fourth Street.

(Nationally, according to a VA estimate, there are 192,000 homeless veterans.)

So Cohen patched together a deal with the veterans center to tap some of its federal training funds to pay Taub. Then the center lost $450,000 of its funding and could not help Cohen anymore. She is looking for a new benefactor to pay Taub's salary.

This weekday morning, in the center's day shelter dubbed "The Perimeter," where homeless veterans come for a meal, shower or counseling, is typical of Taub's monthly visits.

Clients accost him in hallways. Hushed conversations ensue as he sets up appointments. Some he will see in person; others he assigns among three lawyers from Saul Ewing L.L.P., who are here this day to fulfill obligations to provide pro bono, or free, services to the needy.

First, there is a quick tutorial for Karen L. Forman and her colleagues from Saul Ewing. They are experienced, but not in veterans law.

He goes over the forms to fill out, the questions to ask, the evidence needed to back up disability claims.

Taub's predecessor at the Homeless Advocacy Project wrote the book on it, a 14-page manual that Taub has revised. The veteran bears a heavy burden of proof. Records from years ago must be obtained, and old service buddies may need to be located to verify claims.

The process is rife with pitfalls. One 120-day appeals window is so sacrosanct, for instance, "you miss it by 10 seconds, your case is over," said Thomas J. Reed, a law professor at Widener University, who works with student volunteers to assist veterans.

The process begins at the VA regional office - one of 57 across the country - and can wind its way through the Board of Veterans Appeals, the Court of Appeals for Veterans' Claims, and then to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

It can be "brutal" to deal with the VA, said Peter Wymes, a Philadelphia lawyer and disabled Vietnam veteran, who represents wartime friends in benefits claims. The Philadelphia office is an exception in being "veteran friendly," he said.

It decided 16,000 claims last year with a staff of 130, and there were 1,640 challenges, according to Lastowka. Its average processing time is 135 days; the national average is 167 days. Hardly any of the veterans used lawyers, he said.

Veterans are "rated" for compensation on the degree of their disability. Some get as little as $108 a month.

When it comes to deciding the percentage of disability from psychological conditions, the ratings vary so widely from state to state that the inspector general of the Department of Veterans Affairs recently investigated the issue. The VA is considering ways to fix the problem.

In his case, Lavery said, having a lawyer made a difference. "Mr. Taub was a genius," he said, "at digging up documentation."

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