Legislative Drafting

• Senior Managers and Government personnel responsible for turning policy into legislation
• Officials who instruct Parliamentary draftsmen
• Assistants to legislators involved in creating draft legislation
• Members of parliament, senators, assembly members
• Legal advisors and practitioners from both public and private sectors



• Overcome obstacles to turning policy into legislation
• Describe the process of making new laws
• Contribute to the drafting of new legislation
• Prepare instructions for professional draftsmen
• Practice legislative drafting skills

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

Interpretation and Construction of Statutes

• Identifying the purpose of a law
• The Mischief Rule
• The Golden Rule
• Judicial interpretation of legislation
• Judicial creativity and the sovereignty of parliament

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