Dr. Richlin was very helpful for such a difficult class. She does a good job of explaining the overarching themes governing Roman Law as well as gives anecdotes referring to certain cases, proving that she really knows her stuff. The books, honestly, I skimmed through, but she will expect you to draw specific examples from them on her tests, so pay attention to those when you can. She especially likes references to the role of women and is herself an avid feminist with a great sense of humor. I took this class as a first year, so it took me awhile to catch up to the pace of the class, but she really took an invested interest in all of the students and noticed when I improved on tests and case studies, which was SO encouraging. I ended the class with an A- when I thought I was doomed with a C.

The midterm and final are taken within the class's scheduled time, an include explications of phrases, with three "juicy factoids" per term, an essay component, and a case study, where she gives a situation and you act as a lawyer and spell out the laws involved in the case. The bulk of your grade will come from 4 of these case studies, given about a week before they are due. You'll have to cite the law from the book by paragraph (The textbook is REALLY helpful, just not the two additional books), and she'll give you points per point of law you get correct, so you have to make sure you get ALL of them. I suggest starting these as soon as their assigned, even if you just dog-ear some pages that you think might help. They take longer than you think, maybe 6 hours per assignment.

She also loves to have demonstrations in class, which means volunteers come up and act out scenes with her. Obviously, if this terrifies you, don't volunteer, though she may make you stand up in front anyway, but she LOVES people who volunteer to act or answer and ask questions.

Overall, a really interesting course taken by students of diverse majors that still makes me think about the course material a year later. Would definitely take again.