USD Magazine Spring 2013

AROUND  THE PARK

[ c r u s a d e r ]

New Veterans Legal Cl ini c aims to protect and serve provide a range of free legal assistance to veterans, some of whom are in disputes with other institutions over the use of GI Bill funds associated with education loans. doing the right thing obert Muth has a simple mission: He protects and serves those who protect and serve. Muth joined USD’s School of Law faculty in July 2012 as the supervising attorney for the school’s new Veterans Legal Clinic. The clinic is staffed by third- year USD law interns who, under Muth’s supervision, by Krystn Shrieve R

“In many cases, schools target the most vulnerable veterans — those who may be disabled or are suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD),” Muth says. Before coming to USD, Muth was a litigation associate at a civil litigation firm. He got his start, however, with the Marine Corps, where he became a captain and judge advocate. The son of a police officer in the Chicago suburb of Schaumburg, Muth graduated from Northwestern University and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 2002. The Marines put him in the reserves and sent him to law school at Duke University. In 2006, he was sent to Camp Pendleton in San Diego and from there deployed for 13 months to Fallujah, Iraq, where he served as the senior defense counsel for the Marine Corps. He oversaw a wide range of high-profile matters, including cases involving allegations of mishandling of classified information and war crimes such as the killings in Haditha. Muth served in the Marines until 2009 and was named the Defense Counsel of the Year, Navy-Marine Corps Trial Judiciary, Western Judicial Circuit in 2008–09. Both his training as a lawyer and his experiences as a Marine give Muth the perspec- tive he needs to help those who come to him for help.

Marshall williams

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USD MAGAZINE