Deconstructing “Bistro 24” for a Traditionally Underserved Student Population

• Published date: 01 January 2016
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/jlse.12032
• Author: Charles E. Thomas
• Date: 01 January 2016

Journal of Legal Studies Education

Volume 33, Issue 1, 5–22, Winter 2016

Deconstructing “Bistro 24” for a

Traditionally Underserved Student

Population

Charles E. Thomas∗

I. INTRODUCTION

The Journal of Legal Studies Education article “Step Away from the Syllabus:

Engaging Students on the First Day of Legal Environment,”1encouraged in-

structors to rethink their approaches to the initial class session. The exercise

offers an opportunity to introduce the relevance of the legal environment

course within the larger business degree curriculum. By creating a frame of

relevance, Professor Koval theorized that students would remain engaged in

the subject throughout the course. With this hypothesis in mind, the author

experimented with this exercise in several courses in 2014, intrigued by the

active learning opportunity and hoping to replicate the student feedback

responses reported in the Koval article.2In doing so, the author considered

how to tailor the exercise to a largely remedial student population and ul-

timately adapted the exercise to highlight a larger philosophical tenet—the

importance of intellectually honest reasoning processes.

This article serves as a refinement, rather than a critique of the Bistro

24 exercise. Part II briefly summarizes the original exercise, as envisioned

by Professor Koval. Part III serves as a deconstruction of the exercise’s

component parts, and introduces the refinements made to meet the needs

of the author’s student population. Part IV provides an overview of the

student feedback survey responses conducted from multiple iterations of this

∗Assistant Professor of Business Law, California State University, Dominguez Hills.

1Michael R. Koval, Step Away from the Syllabus: Engaging Students on the First Day of Legal Environ-

ment,30J.L

EGAL STUD.EDUC. 179 (2013).

2Id. at 193.

C2016 The Author

Journal of Legal Studies Education C2016 Academy of Legal Studies in Business

5

6 Vol. 33 / The Journal of Legal Studies Education

exercise with both legal environment and upper division business law courses.

Finally, Part V concludes with an invitation to other legal environment

scholars to employ similar experiments within their own classrooms.

II. SUMMARY OF THE BISTRO 24 EXERCISE

The first day of class is rarely the opportunity to engage students on the

subject matter of the course.3Unlike graduate school, students rarely come to

class prepared for substantive course discussion.4Most students are prepared

to introduce themselves to the class, and possibly to explain their reasons

for taking the course. In the case of a legal environment course within a

business program—the reason for taking it is largely homogenous—it is a

core requirement of the business program course of study. Similarly, in the

author’s experience, instructors rarely go beyond the perfunctory review

of the syllabus content—covering the basics of the structure of the course,

grading, exams, and expectations of students. In short, the first day is often

wasted from a course content perspective.

The author teaches in an undergraduate college of business where le-

gal courses are a service department to the degree programs of accounting,

finance, marketing, management, and operations. Consequently, many stu-

dents approach the legal environment course out of obligation and not as

a product of true inquisition.5Similar to basic mathematics or statistics, the

legal environment course is viewed as a necessary prerequisite to taking the

3The research findings on the best practices for the first day of class are mixed. Some researchers

support the model of designing the first day primarily to disseminate the course syllabus and

outline class expectations, rules and policies. See, e.g., Baron Perlman & Lee I. McCann, Student

Perspectives on the First Day of Class,26T

EACHING PSYCHOL. 277 (1999). In contrast, some research

supports instructors utilizing the first day of class to introduce students in the techniques and

skills that will be necessary for success in the class. See, e.g.,Ren

´

ee Smith & Dennis Earl, Getting

Started: A First Day Activity in Philosophical Thinking,28T

EACHING PHIL. 249 (2005). The Bistro 24

exercise attempts to bridge these divergent approaches to the first day of instruction.

4The authors’ observations regarding general undergraduate student preparation are not

unique. See Corey A. Ciocchetti, Connect and Thrive: Perspectives from a Newly Tenured Professor,

28 J. LEGAL STUD.EDUC. 385, 391 (2011) (contrasting the preparedness of graduate and under-

graduate students).

5See George W. Spiro, Collaborative Learning and the Study of Legal Environment,10J.LEGAL STUD.

EDUC. 55, 55 (1992) (acknowledging that because legal environment courses are generally

required for business administration majors, students enroll in these courses with a wide range

of interests, enthusiasm, and preparation for the course).