The chiral non-racemic bicyclic lactam has proven to be an exceptionally versatile chiral template for the asymmetric construction of a variety of optically pure compounds. Those lactams derived from keto acids have been applied to the synthesis of a host of natural products and pharmacologically interesting heterocycles and carbocycles. A variety of mechanistic questions regarding facial stereo-control have been investigated using the chiral template as the key probe. However, further elucidation of the subtle mechanistic principles involved await further study.