Muth lets his interests guide him

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R. Timothy Muth writes one blog that attracts the attention of members of the U.S. Embassy in El Salvador and another that covers actuarial law in the United States.

The first blog reflects Muth’s interest in the country, where he has visited more than 24 times. The second highlights one of his legal specializations.

“Those are pretty technical subjects,” Muth said, “and the lawyer’s job is to be able to translate that into something a judge and jury can understand.”

Muth, who has spent the past 29 years at Reinhart’s Milwaukee office, focuses his legal work on decrypting the legal side of actuaries, whose work faces heavy government scrutiny and touches on insurance and finance. He took his first actuary work for a research project early in his associate days and has since found himself enwrapped in “unraveling layered, complex matters” in the actuary field.

One of his recent posts on Actuary Law Blog, for instance, examined blame in retirement-pay overestimations and bureaucracy in Ohio.

His interest in El Salvador took flight in 2001, when he visited the country for the first time. That trip, he said, was a mission with his church, St. John’s Lutheran in Brookfield.

Muth said the first blogs he wrote about the country were designed partly to educate himself as the nation emerged from decades of civil strife. The more he read, he said, the more he wanted to know.

That interest led to pro bono work. Over the years, Muth said, he has watched the country show reliance on the courts to peacefully move the nation forward.

“I have this real sense they are on the right path toward a country of constitutional democracy,” he said.

Al Schlinsog, a practice group chairman and shareholder at Reinhart, said Muth’s integrity has made him an asset no matter where he directs his interest.

“Tim is absolutely a good citizen of the world,” Schlinsog said. “He really wants to do right by everyone, and he gives back when he can. It’s for the sake of doing good.”