Regional office decisions are not public. Board of Veterans' Appeals decisions are: VA publishes hundreds of thousands of them. Each one shows how the body that reviews appealed claims weighed the evidence and why it granted, denied or sent the claim back.

Are Board decisions precedent?

No. Under 38 CFR 20.1303, a Board decision is binding only in the case it decides. VA Law Explorer shows patterns across many decisions: what tends to persuade the Board and what does not. It is not binding law.

Do the grant rates show a veteran's chance of success?

No. The Board sees only appealed claims, most of them denied by a regional office first. Its grant rates describe what happened at the Board, not at the regional office and not a veteran's overall odds.

What do remands tell you?

A remand sends the claim back for more development, such as a new exam, a medical opinion or missing records. Remand reasons show what the record lacked, which is worth fixing before a claim reaches the Board.

VA Law Explorer: AI search for VA disability law

VA Law Explorer

AI search for VA disability law

AI research across 940,000+ BVA decisions from 2017 to today, plus the M21-1 manual and 38 CFR. Find grant rates, judge patterns and the evidence that wins, with every number traced to the data.

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Try:What evidence wins sleep apnea secondary to PTSD?How often does the Board grant tinnitus, and why are claims denied?What does M21-1 say about knee instability ratings?

940,000+ Board of Veterans' Appeals decisions (2017 to Apr 30, 2026)38 CFR current as of Oct 7, 2026M21-1 as of Oct 20, 2026

Data stories

What the decisions show

All stories

Data story

Anxiety VA claims: secondary conditions and what the Board grants

How the Board of Veterans' Appeals decides anxiety claims: how VA rates them, the service-connected conditions anxiety is claimed secondary to (tinnitus, chronic pain, PTSD) and how often each wins, and why many denials turn on the diagnosis.

22.6%→38.1%

of anxiety claims granted overall vs. when claimed secondary to service-connected PTSD

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Data story

Neck condition VA claims: what the Board relied on in grants and denials

4.4%→74.1%

of neck claims granted with neither a credibility finding nor a positive nexus opinion vs. with both

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Data story

Philippines VA claims: Clark Air Base, Subic Bay, Agent Orange and what the Board grants

25.0%→26.2%

of herbicide-list claims granted for all veterans vs. in decisions that name the Philippines

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VA Law Explorer Weekly

New data stories, M21-1 and 38 CFR changes, and updates to the Board decision data, in one email a week. Free; unsubscribe anytime.

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Explore the data

Research by condition, claim type, judge and rule change

Aircraft-mechanic research

Explore condition outcomes by occupation, compare hearing loss and tinnitus, and read source excerpts.

Research by service history

Grant rates by condition

Outcomes, evidence and reasons for every condition the Board decides often.

242 conditions

Secondary conditions

How the Board decides conditions claimed as caused or aggravated by another.

76 condition pairs

Veterans Law Judges

The judges deciding appeals, with their decision counts and years.

244 judges

M21-1 and 38 CFR changes

Weekly roundups of what changed in the manual and the regulations, word for word.

Latest: week of Oct 19, 2026

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About the data

Why Board of Veterans' Appeals decisions?

Why BVA decisions?: Regional office decisions are not public. Board of Veterans' Appeals decisions are: VA publishes hundreds of thousands of them. Each one shows how the body that reviews appealed claims weighed the evidence and why it granted, denied or sent the claim back.
Are Board decisions precedent?: No. Under 38 CFR 20.1303, a Board decision is binding only in the case it decides. VA Law Explorer shows patterns across many decisions: what tends to persuade the Board and what does not. It is not binding law.
Do the grant rates show a veteran's chance of success?: No. The Board sees only appealed claims, most of them denied by a regional office first. Its grant rates describe what happened at the Board, not at the regional office and not a veteran's overall odds.
What do remands tell you?: A remand sends the claim back for more development, such as a new exam, a medical opinion or missing records. Remand reasons show what the record lacked, which is worth fixing before a claim reaches the Board.

Semantic Search

Find decisions by meaning, not just keywords. Search legal reasoning and evidence language.

Pattern Analysis

Discover grant rates, judge patterns, and evidence trends across 940,000+ decisions.

AI Research Assistant

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