This class is very well organized. There is a solid amount of reading, but it is very digestible, and he covers the key points in class. He is very passionate about history. I loved his lectures! Very kind and understanding of situations when you need to miss class. Just wants to help you learn. Good and flexible grader.

The course takes consistent effort, especially with readings, but it pays off. Keep up, attend lectures, and it will show in your grades. Prof Keyser gives detailed feedback that helps you improve and has strengthened my essay skills. His lectures are engaging and funny. Highly recommend if you're ready to work and grow as a writer and thinker.

Though his lectures may occasionally feature detours, his deep understanding of the subject is abundantly clear, and he synthesizes complex information into digestible points. Some on this page criticize his grading, yet I found his high standard fair. All critiques I received were justified with notes, which helped me improve later in the course.

Professor Keyser was quite rude, and an extremely tough grader. On our papers, barely anyone in the class would receive an A. The lectures were mandatory, but offered minimal valuable information for our assignments.

Rambling, incoherent nonsense for most lectures. The inherently bland subject matter and his inability to make lectures engaging makes this 75 minute lecture drag for what feels like ages. Fortunately, even though a lot of the material is in depth the workload isn't TOO bad - that is, if you're able o handle 3 of the driest texts I've ever read.

Prof. Keyser is extremely passionate about and well-versed in American legal history, and it shows in his lectures. If you find the subject matter interesting, this guy is a veritable gold mine of information. That said, only 20-25 percent get a grade above a B each term; he grades quite tough. Would highly recommend taking his class anyway.

Professor Keyser's class is challenging but rewarding. The lectures are funny, engaging, and interesting. Attendance is required for success, and keeping up with the heavy reading load will save you trouble later. It's a tough course, but the professor's enthusiasm makes it worth it. Would take it again!

He's really smart, but you will NOT get an A in this class. He hates screens, and calls people out for not paying attention constantly and not in a nice way. He assigns a LOT of reading and it's very hard to keep up.

This man has a AI implanted in his brain.

Everyone in these comment ratings thinks this class is super re

Although quite a difficult class, I would recommend this course to anyone who is really passionate about learning about early American legal history. There is a lot of reading, and the quizzes ask very specific questions from the readings, so be ready. This class did teach me a lot of information in the end.

His class is intense and he knows it and he warns you, but he doesn't expect the impossible. Lectures were well organized and filled with information, he compiles his own textbook and based on comments he made is continuously improving it. Be prepared for a tough class but you'll learn a lot.

He was a good lecturer and lessened the reading as essays became due.

Professor Keyser organizes his class very well and makes clear what the expectations and assignments are. There is a lot of reading from books he writes, but again, the books are well organized and interesting to read. He is clearly passionate about history.

Professor Keyser presents the material in an intriguing way and the class was very organized. Definitely my favorite class of the semester.

I was initially sacred to take this class because the reviews weren't very good. I ended up loving it! Lectures are super interesting if you like the law/history. Readings were also interesting. Quizzes can be hard because he looks for very specific answers. As long as you do the work you will do well. Could not recommend this class more.

Legal Studies 261 is the most difficult class I've taken at UW. There is hours of reading every week, weekly quizzes and really tough tests. With all that being said, Professor Keyser is a brilliant professor, he lectures all of class so you have to pay attention, but he's truly an amazing professor. His requirements are to help you succeed.

This class was easily one of the most difficult I've ever taken but overall it was incredibly rewarding. The class is taught through primary sources mixed with historian's essays which I absolutely loved. The quizzes were difficult as well as the essays, but if you keep up with the readings and go to lectures, it is completely manageable.

AVOID IF YOU CAN. extremely tough grader & gives impossible quizzes.

For an undergrad course, both American Legal History 1 and 2 are difficult. However, this type of class has prepared me for law school. Not much prepares you for law school, but this course has definitely contributed to my success. Professor Keyser will push your writing, but it's for the best.

Professor Keyser is an amazing lecturer and I learned a lot of interesting things from this class. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I took this, but, his quizzes are impossible and his papers are pretty tough. I personally would not take this class again, but if you are in this major, you will learn a lot. Just be ready for a tough class.

Confusing lectures, textbook that he wrote, super tough papers that may be graded by a TA you never meet. Avoid at all costs.

Professor Keyser is upfront about his classes being a lot of work and he is not wrong. There is a lot of readings and quizzes can be really really tough, but if you are interested in legal history this is the class to take. His lectures are really interesting and he clearly cares a lot about the topics.

Keyser is a good person at heart and will make you laugh, but he is honest about the class being a heavy load on a schedule. Also, essays were graded by Grad students that we had no interaction with.

Prof Keyser is a genuinely good person and good teacher. He is great to work with in office hours and truly cares. Quizzes are tough but are curved, discussion assignments are easy and infrequent. There are a couple of papers, put a lot of time into them because they will be your main grades. I found Prof Keyser to be a fair grader and nice.

Incredibly hard for what it is. Never on track with material and talks about arbitrary things for half the class. Good luck! you'll need it

His essay prompts are terrible and unclear. Material is all over the place keeps looping around history. Makes you pay for physical copies of his book although he has it online. Gets sidetracked in class,you're always behind as in you learn the material for the essay a day or two before its due. Terribly tough essay grader, quizzes are impossible.

Get ready for some extremely hard quizzes, ambiguous essay questions, and completely written midterms and finals. I was in his office hours all the time, and he is a nice guy who wants you to do well, but likes to weed out students. I would be cautious before taking his classes!

This class was very difficult in terms of reading, writing 3 very toughly-graded papers, and studying for quizzes. Even though this class took a lot of time and a lot of effort, Prof. Keyser was very knowledgeable and was very willing to help you in office hours.

Keyser uses 4 textbooks for one class, held students accountable for specific working of 300+ court cases in one semester, gave 5 impossibly difficult quizzes, 3 long essays, and a cumulative final. Grading is completely subjective and he lectures on material AFTER testing on it. If you succeed in his class, you've basically passed the bar exam.

By far the most mercurial and impossible grader I have ever encountered. Quizzes are abnormally difficult, in class of 80, average is around 70%. I'm used to getting A's on essays and have consistently gotten C's. He always contradicts himself when grading. His class is completely hit or miss, there is nothing you can do to remedy it. AVOID HIM

Easily the best professor here. I can't express my fondness for him. He works you hard, but he cares so much, and he gives incredible feedback. Learning from him was an honor! I'm in 262 now(a little easier than 261 knock on wood).

He seems like a really nice guy. I took him for two classes, LS 261 and 262, because I love the subject matter, but my GPA suffered for it. His quizzes are impossible because of the massive amounts of information you have to study, and his essay grading is insane. He contradicts himself and it's impossible to tell what he's looking for.

I took LS261 & 262 from Prof. Keyser, and I honestly loved both. I may be biased b/c I'm pre-law,but I thought he made the material very interesting. That being said, the course is very reading-heavy and you NEED to do the reading questions to get a good grade! Prof. Keyser is a tough grader, but he's also fair & will explain grades in office hours

I would not recommend taking a class with Professor Keyser. He grades papers without a clear explanation for the grades that he gives. The in class discussions were not at all helpful for understanding the material. Also, he managed to make an interesting subject completely boring and failed to effectively teach the material.

You need to do a ton of reading for the class, but he makes expectations clear enough that, if you are willing to put in the work, you can succeed. Additionally, he does legitimately care about his students, especially if they participate and make him believe that they care.

Essay prompts are unclear, lots of reading and mediocre lectures. The material is interesting but I would definitely not recommend taking a class taught by this professor.

Really hard: 100+ pages of reading a week hard. I'm very studious and couldn't manage an A. Though I will say, this is one of the most rewarding classes I have ever taken. If you're looking at a political track I highly recommend this class because it gives you real insight into the founding period of our country and helps immensely going forward.

He's a nice guy but, unfortunately, being nice does not help someone learn. His essay prompts are ridiculously specific as if he only has one correct answer already made up in his mind. I took the class because I am genuinely interested in environmental law but after this class, I am staying clear.

A lot of the readings seem to be glossed over or skipped completely. Essay prompts are difficult to interpret with inadequate feedback. My feeling was that if you did not agree with his view, your grade suffered. He needs to be more concerned with engaging/teaching than tricking/undermining students in a weak/desperate aim to "challenge".

Prof. Keyser is one of the worst professors I've had at UW-Madison. At the beginning of the semester he stated that he wouldn't grade papers on the argument made, instead by the supporting evidence. However, if you didn't make the same argument as him he would give terrible grades out even with comments that say good supporting evidence was given.

Do like this subject? Take this class. Do you hate American legal history? Then run for the hills because you're going to be living and breathing it to get above a b. Fair grader, crystal clear, extremely helpful but not an easy class

Prof. Keyser is a really nice guy and he made the class very interesting. That being said, there is a lot of reading involved and attendance is pretty much mandatory if you want to do well. LS262 was pretty hard, but if you put in the work, you'll get a lot out of it, and he was fun to listen to. Plus movie days!

His classes Legal Studies/History 261 and 262 both require a lot of reading and there are reading questions every week that get tedious but if you do them it makes studying for the quizzes and writing the papers a lot easier because he makes it clear what information you need to know. Very good lecturer, loves to talk with students and helped a lot

This was the hardest class I've ever taken. He expects his students to do nothing but study for his class. His lectures are way too confusing, he jumps around on his thoughts and does not have clear outlines. He will randomly give pop quizzes, and for the quizzes he does tell his class about, they're impossible. The averages are always below 50%

One of the hardest classes I have ever taken. He is an extremely hard grader and expects a lot out of his students. At times this can be motivating, but it mostly falls short and becomes demoralizing. I would not recommend this course, it was too time consuming with little reward.

Awesome professor! Clear, funny, thought-provoking lectures. He gives useful feedback on assignments. Prof. Keyser also gives really helpful guidance in office hours. Just be sure to participate and read the material and youll do well. Great class! Learned a lot!

LS 296 is a fairly easy course and Professor Keyser does a decent job of teaching the material. The books are primarily court cases but to pass the class you need to read. The majority of the material for the exams (1 midterm and final) and 1 paper comes from the books. He gives a few random quizzes throughout the semester.