Law-Making and Legislative Drafting

• Departmental Policy makers in the public service
• Senior Managers and Government personnel responsible for turning policy into legislation
• Officials who instruct Parliamentary draftsmen
• Members of parliament, senators, assembly members,
• Legal advisors and practitioners from both public and private sectors
• Corporate advisors concerned with influencing the creation of new legislation
• Public affairs professionals

Course objectives

• To identify the role of law in solving policy challenges
• To influence the development of policy through legal innovation
• To overcome obstacles to turning policy into legislation
• To understand the process of making new laws
• To contribute to the drafting of new legislation
• To practice their legislative drafting skills
• To prepare instructions for professional draftsmen

Course content

Introduction to Law-Making

• Sources and Origins of Law
• Types of Law
• The Common Law system
• Continental legal systems and the Napoleonic Code
• Law and the constitution
• Key legal principles examined from English criminal law, law of torts, contract law

The Law Makers – Government Systems Compared

• Institutions of government
• Separation of powers
• Role of the Judiciary
• How the Legislature functions
• The Westminster model
• The presidential system
• Scrutiny of the Law Makers

Effective Policy Making

• What is policy?
• Sources of policy
• Role and responsibilities in policy making
• Setting policy priorities
• The process of turning policy into new laws
• Gaining buy-in to legal change

The Law-Making Process

• From policy to the draft Bill
• Who does what in making legislation?
• Stages of the process
• Legislative timetables
• Assessing regulatory impact
• How the Bill team functions

Getting Results with Law-Making

• Constraints on the process of making laws
• Amending and developing the law
• Compliance and enforcement
• Avoidance and evasion
• Is legal compliance voluntary?

Legislative Instruments Under the Microscope

• Types of legislation
• Primary and secondary legislation
• Dissecting a statute
• Structure and elements of an Act of Parliament
• Assembling the machinery of an Act
• Problems with how laws work

Drafting Legislation

• Principles of drafting
• Alternative approaches
• Planning your draft
• Writing for the reader
• Using plain English
• Dos and Don’ts in drafting
• Writing instructions for the parliamentary draftsman

Stakeholder Participation in Law-Making

• The need for involvement
• Formal and informal consultation
• Consultation processes
• The draft Bill and consultation
• Ethical lobbying
• The role of the public affairs professional

Turning Policy into Practice

• Why do some laws fail to achieve their objectives?
• Effective and ineffective law making
• Education, communication and legal effectiveness
• The challenge of over-complex laws
• How to address legal effectiveness issues
• Alternatives to law making – nudge theory