SKIP TO
CONTENT
Bar Admissions
- District of Columbia
- State of New Jersey
- State of New York
- U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
- U.S. Supreme Court
Accreditations
- Department of Veterans Affairs, Accredited Representative
Professional Associations
- Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims Bar Association
Education
- Cornell Law School, Ithaca, NY – J.D.
- UCLA, Los Angeles, CA – B.A. Political Science
Brandon worked for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for 16 years, first at the Board of Veterans’ Appeals, and then in the Office of General Counsel. He defended the government’s decisions before the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims and also at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit as co-counsel with the Department of Justice.
Brandon grew up in Southern California with no lawyers in his family (at the time—now both his wife and brother are practicing attorneys). After catching the law bug by way of his high school debate and mock trial teams, Brandon learned more about government and public policy as a political science major at UCLA. He went east for law school, graduating from Cornell in 2007. Then Mr. Jonas went to Washington—to work for VA, meet his wife, and start a family.
Brandon and his wife are now raising their son and daughter in central New Jersey, in close proximity to beautiful parks, beaches, and in-laws. When not working to win Veterans the benefits they deserve, Brandon is cooking or cleaning up after his small children. He enjoys mixing cocktails and watching prestige television with his wife at the end of long days. He once enjoyed hot yoga and hopes to find time for it again soon.
Brandon spent some of his tenure at VA providing legal advice and counsel to policymakers. His work on the expansion of service connection presumptions for toxic exposures stands out. He worked alongside VA scientists to respond to new reports from the National Academy of Medicine (f.k.a. Institute of Medicine) on Agent Orange during the Vietnam era and burn pits and other exposures resulting from the Gulf War and Post 9/11 deployments. Although it was certainly thrilling to advise high-ranking officials on system-wide policies, Brandon feels most gratified when he is using his skills and expertise to fight on behalf of individual Veterans and their families.
Published Cases
Representing VA:
- Crews v. McDonough, 36 Vet. App 67 (2023)
- Military-Veterans Advocacy, Inc. v. Sec’y of Veterans Affairs, 63 F.4th 935 (Fed. Cir. 2023)
- Prewitt v. McDonough, 36 Vet. App 1 (2022)
- Morse v. McDonough, 994 F.3d 1371 (Fed. Cir. 2021)
- Perry v. Wilkie, 983 F.3d 484 (Fed. Cir. 2020)
- Burkhart v. Wilkie, 971 F.3d 1363 (Fed. Cir. 2020)
- Procopio v. Sec’y of Veterans Affairs, 943 F.3d 1376 (Fed. Cir. 2019)
- Dela Cruz v. Wilkie, 931 F.3d 1143 (Fed. Cir. 2019)
- Procopio v. Wilkie, 913 F.3d 1371 (Fed. Cir. 2019) (en banc)
- Cook v. Wilkie, 908 F.3d 813 (Fed. Cir. 2018)
- Winters v. Wilkie, 898 F.3d 1377 (Fed. Cir. 2018)
- Gray v. Sec’y of Veterans Affairs, 884 F.3d 1379 (Fed. Cir. 2018) (reh’g denied), vacated as moot sub nom. Gray v. Wilkie, 139 S. Ct. 2764 (2019)
- Disabled American Veterans v. Sec’y of Veterans Affairs, 859 F.3d 1072 (Fed. Cir. 2017)
- Swain v. McDonald, 27 Vet. App. 219 (2015)
- Tagupa v. McDonald, 27 Vet. App. 95 (2014)