Leading Veterans Advocate Joins the Board of Advisors
Heroes Linked is honored to announce the addition of Antoinette Naddour, Esq., LLM, to its Board of Advisors. As the Executive Director and Co-Founder of Veterans Legal Institute®, a 501 (c) (3) charity based in Orange County, California, Ms. Naddour has made significant strides in providing free legal services to veterans in need. Her work has removed barriers to housing, healthcare, education, and employment for countless veterans, empowering them to build a better future. Her role in the firm's overall management, business development, and strategic planning, coupled with her light legal caseload, demonstrates her commitment to making a difference in the lives of veterans.
Since co-founding the Veterans Legal Institute in 2014, more than 10,000 low-income veterans have been empowered by free legal services. In 2010, while volunteering at an emergency shelter, Ms. Naddour became keenly aware of an influx of service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan needing a hand-up. She discovered many issues that contributed to these veterans’ chronic homelessness were legal in nature and required the assistance of an attorney. So moved by the fact that the men and women who had served the country abroad were now struggling, she committed herself to the cause of removing “chronic” from “homelessness” and lifting up veterans into self-sufficiency. This led her to be instrumental in the co-development of a veteran-based project at a local legal aid, with over 700 veterans receiving legal assistance during her three-year tenure there before founding the Veterans Legal Institute. Veterans Legal Institute was borne out of the need to create a wholly military-based organization to serve the unique needs of low-income and homeless veterans.
Ms. Naddour served as an officer with the California State Guard for six years. She served in the rank of Major as a Marketing Officer assigned to Strategic Communications (STRATCOM) and a reserve JAG Officer assigned to Legal Support Command. She regularly lectures on legal topics affecting veterans and is known for providing innovative solutions for veteran empowerment and self-sufficiency. She sits on the military advisory boards for Supervisor Katrina Foley and Congresswoman Young Kim. In the past, Ms. Naddour was a law lecturer at UCI School of Law for its Veterans Law Clinic.
Ms. Naddour served as a two-term Director at Large with the Orange County Bar Association, where she is currently a member of the Outreach and Pro Bono Committees and Co-Chair of its Military and Veterans Committee. She is a board member of the Orange County Women’s Lawyers Association (OCWLA) and was honored as the OCWLA 2022 Attorney of the Year. The Orange County Business Journal recognized her as the 2023 “Woman on the Move.” She is also a Board Advisor for the Orange County Black Chamber of Commerce. She is a member of the OC Veterans and Military Families Collaborative, where, for many years, she served as the Chair of its Legal/ Re-Entry Working Group and Vice Chair of its Steering Committee.