Spring 2027

Law, Politics and Society

Law, Politics and Society introduces the legal process, examining concepts of law, legal reasoning, and the nature and function of law and the courts.

no offering record for this termCredits unavailable
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 No instructors listed

Summary

1 / 7

Past student reviews · Melanie Murchison

The course involved substantial reading and multiple assessments, including discussions, papers, and exams. Some students found the grading criteria for these components to be stricter than expected, making the workload feel more demanding.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Increase knowledge about the components of the U.S. legal system.

  • Understand how disputes evolve in the context of the U.S. legal system.

  • Improve ability to synthesize social science readings and formulate arguments in written and oral form.

  • Improve oral advocacy skills through active classroom discussion.

Source: UW Guide 1 UW Guide 2

Grade history

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average GPA
letter grades
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All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

Freshman or sophomore standing only

  • Freshman or sophomore standing only
LEGALST/POLISCI 217 used by

“Used by” includes alternatives; linked courses may have other requirements. This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • Freshman or sophomore standing only

Professors

Spring 2027

No instructors recorded for this selection.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

CARLTON HENSON is recorded teaching in Fall 2011, Spring 2012, Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

KATHRYN HENDLEY is recorded teaching in Fall 2007, Fall 2014, Fall 2017, Fall 2019. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

MELANIE MURCHISON is recorded teaching in Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2019, Fall 2020. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Carlton Henson, Melanie Murchison

Students described instructors as engaging and supportive, with lectures that encouraged participation and accommodated student needs. Feedback highlighted clear communication and helpfulness in answering questions about course material.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2023: 3.96 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=40 letter grades); Fall 2024: 3.97 GPA, 97.4% A/AB (n=76 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.86 GPA, 95.8% A/AB (n=71 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Melanie Murchison

The course involved substantial reading and multiple assessments, including discussions, papers, and exams. Some students found the grading criteria for these components to be stricter than expected, making the workload feel more demanding.

Past student reviews · Kathryn Hendley, Melanie Murchison

Experiences varied significantly; one student found lectures straightforward and grading completion-based, while another felt lectures were boring and paper feedback was based on personal preferences rather than clear standards.

Topics

  • The legal process
  • Concepts of law, perennial problems of the law, legal reasoning, and the nature and function of law and the courts
  • Components of the U.S. legal system
  • How disputes evolve in the U.S. legal system

Skills

  • Legal reasoning
  • Knowledge of U.S. legal system components
  • Understanding dispute evolution in the U.S. legal system
  • Synthesizing social science readings and formulating arguments
  • Oral advocacy

Grades

Latest available · Spring 2025— not enough history to project Spring 2027.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

Grades over time

Through Spring 2025

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2025 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1286 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

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Selected offering source records

No offering records for the selected term.

Raw records 
[]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
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Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

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Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "a4777dc10e17477d580b21754a56d7a50663b4c60f9c7d0d16b673410559ddf7",
  "requirements_status": "needs_review",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}