Class record · LAWS · LAW

LAWS 2150

Law Practice 1 · 10 instructors on record · 32 sections

How the curve score is built

74Teaching84 raw · 38th percentile of BC classes

−2Easiness adjustmenteasiness 68 · 64 raw workload · lighter than 20% of BC classes

72Curve scorethe teaching curve −2 for the workload · at most ±6 either way

Boston College's ratings are bunched at the top — the median instructor averages about 88 out of 100 on the raw scale, and 44% of them clear 90 — so a raw score cannot separate anybody. Every figure here is ranked against BC classes and that rank is re-expressed out of 100, which is what turns a raw 88 — the middle of the university — into a figure that says where somebody actually stands. On this scale 77 is the median, 84 the top quarter and 91 the top tenth. Workload is then an adjustment on top of that, worth nothing at all for an ordinary one. Lighter work than 20% of BC classes.

What the course score is made of

84BC evaluations32 records · weight ×1.0 · Fall 2021 – Fall 2025

—Student reviewsno reviews — does not contribute

—RateMyProfessorsno ratings — does not contribute

The class itself, averaged across everyone who taught it — who taught it is the board below.

How is this worked out?

That is what a student picking a section is actually choosing between: the board carries each instructor's own score for this class, and the score above is the class averaged across all of them.

What the challenge rank is made of

48thMore challenging than 48% of BC classesranked against every one we hold

90BC — “Intellectually Challenging”32 records · raw score out of 100

Boston College's own “intellectually challenging” question. It is not a measure of difficulty, grading or workload.

How is this worked out?

Boston College's own “intellectually challenging” question for this class only — students answer it positively about courses that stretched them, so it measures intellectual challenge and NOT grading, workload or quality. Almost every BC class scores high on it, which is why it is shown as a rank rather than a score.

What the workload rank is made of

80thMore work than 80% of BC classesranked against every one we hold

64BC — “Workload”32 records · raw score out of 100

One of Boston College's five workload bands, not a number of hours. Higher means more work, not worse.

How is this worked out?

Boston College reports workload for this class only as one of five bands, not as a number of hours, and it does not publish what the bands mean — so this site will not translate it into hours. Higher means more work, which is not the same as worse.

All 1L students in their first semester will be enrolled in this course for which they will receive 3 credits toward satisfaction of the requirement in ABA Standard 303 for 6 experiential course credits. The curriculum will introduce students to the role of the lawyer through legal problem solving in a simulated client context. Students will be provided with instruction in: research and analysis of binding authority; identification of legally significant facts from documents, interviews, etc.; guided instruction in how to read and synthesize the law, the presentation of analysis of the law and application of the analysis to the problem facts; and preparation of office memoranda. The course involves classroom instruction and discussion, group work, and intensive individual feedback and conferencing.

The board

10 instructors · ranked on this class onlyCompare the top 3

Scores are real averages. The order also accounts for how many records back each one — the count is under every score — so one perfect review does not outrank a semester of them. 2 of the 10 rows carry a mark saying so.

Rank	Instructor	Curve	Easiness	Challenge	RMP overall
1	Cheryl BrattLaw	9197 raw · 4 records	68−2 to the score	75th	—no page
2	Jeffrey CohenLaw	8394 raw · 4 records	65−3 to the score	71st	1007 ratings · all classes
3	Maureen Van NesteLaw	8294 raw · 5 records	66−3 to the score	55th	—no page
4	Mary Ann ChirbaLaw	7991 raw · 5 records	68−2 to the score	65th	766 ratings · all classes
5	Elisabeth KellerLaw	7588 raw · 5 records	68−2 to the score	29th	—no page
6	Alice NobleLaw Provisional	6274 raw · 1 record	68−2 to the score	25th	—no page
7	Misti DuvallLaw Provisional	5873 raw · 1 record	58−5 to the score	27th	—no page
8	Jessica Mahon ScolesLaw Provisional fewer records	5665 raw · 1 record	68−2 to the score	1st	—no page
9	Jennifer BehrLaw Provisional fewer records	6576 raw · 2 records	—	4th	—no page
10	Joan BlumLaw	6682 raw · 4 records	62−4 to the score	61st	—no page

4 of 10 rows are marked provisional: fewer than 3 records stand behind the number. That is thin evidence, not a bad instructor — the record count is in every row. The RateMyProfessors column is an instructor's overall figure across everything they teach, not a figure about this class.

How this board is built and ordered

Positions account for how many records stand behind each number, so one perfect review does not outrank a semester of them. Every score shown is the real average — only the ordering is adjusted. The comparison here is the class itself: a thin record is read against how this class was rated overall, not against the university.

Every instructor with an evaluation record for this class is on this board — it is not a top ten, and nothing is hidden behind a “show more”. Curve is the instructor's score for THIS class only, ranked against every instructor we hold and printed back out of 100, with the raw BC average underneath it; nothing on this board is an average across the other things they teach. Easiness is an adjustment on top of it, worth up to about ±6 — BC's workload item, ranked and turned over, so a lighter section gains and a heavier one loses, while an ordinary one changes nothing — and each row prints the adjustment, signed. The board is ordered on the same figure it prints, adjusted for how many records back it. Challenge is BC's “intellectually challenging” item shown as a rank against every class we hold; students answer it positively about courses that stretched them, so it is not a measure of difficulty or grading, and it is never marked better or worse.

That site has no course dimension, so its figure is shown for information and kept out of the ranking.

The line

All 13 items · means across 32 records

Instructor4

Course3

Feedback3

Workload & Challengenot ratings

Bars are ranks, not raw scores. Nothing here is graded good or bad.

What each item asks

Explains Clearly: The instructor was effective at creating an understanding of difficult subject matter.
Available: The instructor was available for help outside of class.
Motivating: The instructor motivated me to do my best work.
Sparks Interest: The course stimulated my interest in the subject matter.
Organized: The course was well organized.
Clear Goals: The learning objectives for the course were clear.
Useful Later: What I learned is applicable beyond this course.
Assignments: Assignments and exams contributed to my learning.
Fast Feedback: I received feedback on my work in a timely manner.
Useful Feedback: The feedback I received on my work was meaningful.
Workload: How much work the course took outside class, on Boston College's five-band scale — the band boundaries are not published, so this is not a number of hours.
Challenge: The course was intellectually challenging.
Attendance: Attending class was necessary to do well in this course.

Why these numbers are curved

Both the number and the bar are the rank against every comparable record we hold, printed back out of 100. BC's questions all have a median around 4.5, so on the raw scale every cell here would read in the high eighties and every bar would be nearly full — thirteen numbers that tell you nothing. Each cell prints its raw BC figure and its percentile underneath, so nothing is hidden by the transform. Every bar is one ink colour — nothing here is graded green or red. The hatched bars are not ratings at all: a higher number on either describes a different course, not a better one.

Game log

32 sections · newest first

Instructor	Term	Sec	Instr	Course	Work
Alice Noble	Fall 2025	01	74	73	60
Mary Ann Chirba	Fall 2025	02	86	79	60
Elisabeth Keller	Fall 2025	03	91	86	60
Maureen Van Neste	Fall 2025	04	99	95	80
Cheryl Bratt	Fall 2025	05	99	99	60
Misti Duvall	Fall 2025	06	73	68	80
Joan Blum	Fall 2024	01	85	80	80
Mary Ann Chirba	Fall 2024	02	88	85	60
Elisabeth Keller	Fall 2024	03	90	87	60
Maureen Van Neste	Fall 2024	04	95	91	60
Cheryl Bratt	Fall 2024	05	98	91	60
Jeffrey Cohen	Fall 2024	06	97	92	80
Joan Blum	Fall 2023	01	70	70	—
Mary Ann Chirba	Fall 2023	02	96	94	—
Elisabeth Keller	Fall 2023	03	98	95	—
Maureen Van Neste	Fall 2023	04	94	91	—
Jennifer Behr	Fall 2023	05	77	80	—
Jeffrey Cohen	Fall 2023	06	91	87	—
Joan Blum	Fall 2022	01	91	87	80
Mary Ann Chirba	Fall 2022	02	97	87	60
Elisabeth Keller	Fall 2022	03	83	83	60
Maureen Van Neste	Fall 2022	04	90	87	60
Cheryl Bratt	Fall 2022	05	93	90	60
Jeffrey Cohen	Fall 2022	06	90	88	60
Cheryl Bratt	Fall 2021	01	98	100	60

Showing the first 25.

How to read this board

Instructors are ranked on their record in this class only, never on their average across everything they teach. Scores are out of 100 — Boston College's 1–5 agreement scale, ×20, the way these numbers were printed for years. Workload is BC's own five-band figure, not a number of hours, and is shown as a rank. A dash means the question was not reported, and is never a zero.