I took a break from my favorite romance dramas and thought I would delve into a bit of adversities and real life drama on judges and their work in modern day Korea. The title Hammurabi was interesting enough and when I looked up it's meaning, the dictionary says - "Hammurabi was a king of ancient Mesopotamia, known for putting the laws of his country into a formal legal code". Therefore, Go Ara was selected to play the role of Judge Park who is the Hammurabi of sorts in modern times.
Passionate and idealistic rookie judge who stays by her beliefs and stands for justice.

The drama shares stories about the lives of ordinary people, their real life struggles and social issues in modern day Korea. Also, behind the courtroom shares the story of the life of judges, gossips and drama that takes place with more stories of it's own with lots of disputes, arrogance, old school thinking and more.

To bring about change and broader judgement sensory, Judge Park has the support and admiration from Judge Im (Kim Myung Soo "L") who happens to be Judge Park's crush from high school. Together they face challenges and are ridiculed as they stand up for their rights. However, the character that stood out strongest for me is Judge Han (played by veteran actor Sung Dong-il) an experienced chief judge who understands the harsh realities of life and is a righteous leader and mentor to both Judge Park and Judge Im.

The romance and love story in this drama were from very light to almost none. The chemistry between the two main leads were 'friendly' and not more. Well, I did ask for a break from romance dramas, so this drama was it. Lots of good legal cases and up-lifting orchestra music when there is a win or victory over the bad. Hmmm.....back to romance drama for me...