A brief ten-question survey is one of the most effective tools I have used in my three years as an academic. I first used one when teaching professional responsibility and then used it for my employment law, corporate governance seminar, and business associations courses. I’m using it for the first time with my civil procedure students. I count class participation in all of my classes for a portion of their grade, and responding to the survey link by the first day of class is their first “A” or first “F” of the semester.
I use survey monkey but other services would work as well. The survey serves a number of uses. First, I will get an idea of how many students actually read my emails before next Tuesday’s first day of class—interestingly as of Thursday morning, 62% of my incoming 1Ls have completed their survey, while 42% of the BA students have done theirs. Second, my BA students work in mini law firms for a number of drafting exercises and simulations. The students can pick their own firms, but I designate a “financial expert” to each firm based upon the survey responses. I remind them that they should never leave the classroom thinking they are “experts” in the real world– they are just experts compared to the "terrified." I use this tactic to avoid having all of the MBAs and bitcoin owners (yes, I had some last year) sit together and unintentionally intimidate the other firms with their perceived advantage.
Third, I get an idea of how students have learned about business prior to BA and what news sources they use. Fourth, I tailor my remarks and hypotheticals (when appropriate) to reach the litigators or those who plan to specialize in nontransactional work. I want them to know how BA will relate to the practice areas they think they will enter. I tell them on the first day that I went to Columbia for college because it didn’t have a math requirement and I planned to do public interest work, went to law school because the LSAT was the only graduate school entrance exam that had no math on it (ok- my professor Jack Greenberg at Columbia also said I should go). I tell them that I became a litigator to avoid business and spent my first years as a non-corporate person having to learn about FASB and the definition of a "security" because I was a big-firm commercial litigator. I tell them that when I went in-house I had to take accounting for lawyers and although I don’t love the accounting, we will discuss some basics because they never know where they will end up. Many of them mat even represent entrepreneurs. My first day speech is meant to reach the 79% of my students (as of this morning) who say they want to be litigators.
Finally, I feel as though I’m not walking in on the first day completely ignorant of my students. I often use the names or storylines from popular shows or movies in class when I can. The show Suits, by the way, is the runaway favorite for my 1Ls and I know my BA students watch it as well. My BA survey questions are below. If you are interested in seeing my Civ Pro questions, email me at mnarine@stu.edu.
1. Please enter your first and last name. If your name is hard to pronounce, please provide a phonetic spelling as well (rhymes with ___ or NUH-RHINE for Narine).
2. Have you had any experience working in a legal setting (firm, court, agency, clinic, other) BEFORE coming to law school or DURING law school? Please answer yes or no and then describe the experience if you answered "yes".
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a) Yes- please complete comment box b) No |
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Other (please specify) 3. Which type of practice appeals to you more? |
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a) Planning (e.g. transactional) b) Dispute resolution (e.g. litigation) c) I do not plan to practice law after graduation |
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Other (please specify) |
4. Have you or a close family member ever owned a business?
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Yes, and I have been completely involved in management and/or business discussions Yes, and I have been somewhat or occasionally involved in management and/or business discussions Yes, but I have had no involvement in management and/or business discussions No |
5. Do you own any stocks, bonds, other types of securities (individually or through a mutual fund or trust) or bitcoin?
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Yes No 6. Choose up to THREE fields of law in which you would most prefer to practice |
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a) bankruptcy b) civil rights/constitutional law c) corporate and securities law (including business planning) d) criminal law (prosecution) e) criminal law (defense) f) labor and employment law g) trusts and estates h) family law i) health law j) immigration k) intellectual property l) real estate/land use m) litigation (plaintiff side) n) litigation (defense side) o) sports and entertainment p) tax q) other, please describe |
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Other (please specify) |
7. Do you have an MBA, business, finance, accounting, or economics degree?
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Yes No 8. Do you read any business related newspapers, magazines or blogs? Do you watch any business-related television shows or listen to podcasts or radio shows? If so, please name them. |
9. Other than to pass the class, what are your learning goals for this course? Are there particular topics that interest or frighten you?
10. Please describe your level of familiarity with business, finance and/or accounting.
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I am an expert and could teach this class I have some experience, but could use a refresher I have no experience, but am willing to learn I am completely terrified |
My goals this year: help my students think like business people so that they can add value, help them pass the bar, and most important, help them realize that business isn't so terrifying. Now I just have to get my Civ Pro students to realize that the show Franklin and Bash is probably not the best way to learn about legal practice.