Background

We updated this chapter to reflect new organizational structures and nomenclature in the Office of Disability Adjudication and Review (ODAR), and ODAR component roles and responsibilities with respect to the Hearings, Appeals and Litigation Law (HALLEX) manual.

Explanation of Content and Changes

We amended sections I-1-0-2 “Organization of HALLEX” and I-1-0-3 “The HALLEX Audience” to remove references to Parts 1, 2, and 3 (sections labeled “Reserved for future use”) and Part 6 from Volume II. As we move further into an electronic policy environment, there is no need to maintain sections that have been “Reserved for future use.” The material in Volume II, Part 6 has been superseded by the Document Generation System.

We updated and renamed section I-1-0-5 to reflect new organizational structures and explanations of the roles of ODAR components in maintaining HALLEX. We updated Section I-1-0-6 “Preparing a HALLEX Transmittal” to provide more detailed and up-to-date instructions on the mechanics of preparing a HALLEX transmittal. We renamed and reorganized Section I-1-0-7 to provide cross references to new resources and to provide new detail on the HALLEX clearance process.

We added section I-1-0-10 to provide instructions for using the customized HALLEX Word Template.

Date: March 3, 2011