Prof. Gurmendi is a visiting professor and I was in his first class (Inter American Human Rights Systems) during his first semester teaching (Fall 2020) at Michigan.
I originally took the class out of necessity. I needed to fulfill the IC requirement and this was the only course that first my schedule. And, wow, that was pure luck because this was easily my favorite course I’ve taken in law school.
For 2 units, Prof Gurmendi has you write 1 paper (which is VERY reasonable in length). You don’t have to write any other assignments. Too many of my 1-2 unit courses require multiple short paper assignments in addition to longer finals and, really, that adds up too quickly to a ton of busy work. Gurmendi doesn’t give you busy work and you can actual just focus on enjoying the reading and also on your final.
Yes, you’ll have a lot of reading in a short period of time because Gurmendi is probably visiting for only a month. But the class ended after 5 weeks, the paper was due a few weeks later, and my finals season was much easier because I didn’t have to worry about this course.
The reading is particularly interesting, especially if you like history. I’d say it was front loaded with history/poli sci and moved into legal aspects in the later weeks. For me, this made those first few weeks especially nice because listening to lecture was like listening to a podcast or watching a good historical documentary. I did all of the reading because I thought it was really interesting, but it was clear to me that doing all the reading wasn’t necessary because the final paper is on a topic of your choosing. So, if you open the syllabus and see huge amounts of reading, I wouldn’t view this as a reason to drop. In 5 short weeks, I went from knowing nothing about Latin America (its history or legal system) to feeling like I could speak intelligently on its various regions. Really, this class is super cool and you should take it.
As for Prof. Gurmendi, he is just exceptional. Easily the most enthusiastic and prepared professor I have ever encountered. During the 2020 fall semester, because we were online, Prof. Gurmendi taught from London. This meant he was teaching at midnight his time, but you could never tell because he was so prepared and energized.
Gurmendi and his wife both have really cool and interesting backgrounds, and it was great to be able to pick their brains about career paths. Gurmendi is a genuinely good person; unfortunately, the 2020 pandemic really demonstrated how little most of our professors actually care about us and I’m glad to have had a professor in fall 2020 who was actually nice (and not just for looks).
Final perk, grading is very fair. Consult MLaw Schedule for my definition of “fair.”
MLaw Prof Reviews
Prof. Gurmendi is a visiting professor and I was in his first class (Inter American Human Rights Systems) during his first semester teaching (Fall 2020) at Michigan.
I originally took the class out of necessity. I needed to fulfill the IC requirement and this was the only course that first my schedule. And, wow, that was pure luck because this was easily my favorite course I’ve taken in law school.
For 2 units, Prof Gurmendi has you write 1 paper (which is VERY reasonable in length). You don’t have to write any other assignments. Too many of my 1-2 unit courses require multiple short paper assignments in addition to longer finals and, really, that adds up too quickly to a ton of busy work. Gurmendi doesn’t give you busy work and you can actual just focus on enjoying the reading and also on your final.
Yes, you’ll have a lot of reading in a short period of time because Gurmendi is probably visiting for only a month. But the class ended after 5 weeks, the paper was due a few weeks later, and my finals season was much easier because I didn’t have to worry about this course.
The reading is particularly interesting, especially if you like history. I’d say it was front loaded with history/poli sci and moved into legal aspects in the later weeks. For me, this made those first few weeks especially nice because listening to lecture was like listening to a podcast or watching a good historical documentary. I did all of the reading because I thought it was really interesting, but it was clear to me that doing all the reading wasn’t necessary because the final paper is on a topic of your choosing. So, if you open the syllabus and see huge amounts of reading, I wouldn’t view this as a reason to drop. In 5 short weeks, I went from knowing nothing about Latin America (its history or legal system) to feeling like I could speak intelligently on its various regions. Really, this class is super cool and you should take it.
As for Prof. Gurmendi, he is just exceptional. Easily the most enthusiastic and prepared professor I have ever encountered. During the 2020 fall semester, because we were online, Prof. Gurmendi taught from London. This meant he was teaching at midnight his time, but you could never tell because he was so prepared and energized.
Gurmendi and his wife both have really cool and interesting backgrounds, and it was great to be able to pick their brains about career paths. Gurmendi is a genuinely good person; unfortunately, the 2020 pandemic really demonstrated how little most of our professors actually care about us and I’m glad to have had a professor in fall 2020 who was actually nice (and not just for looks).
Final perk, grading is very fair. Consult MLaw Schedule for my definition of “fair.”
Take his courses!