Overview

The Workshop on Legislative Drafting seminar teaches participants how to turn a policy idea into clear, concise, and legally effective legislation. The basics of legislative drafting, such as legislative style and the components of a bill, will first be covered before beginning to draft bills. As the seminar progresses, more complex forms of drafting, such as amending bills and statutes, will be covered. Participants will also have the chance to “road test” their work in a mock committee markup.

Past seminar participants have included professional legislative drafters from drafting offices around the world; policy experts that, though employed in agencies not directly involved in drafting, want to be able to better work with their legislative drafting counterparts; private consultants wishing to add legislative drafting to the range of skills they can offer clients; and groups working on a specific project for which drafting knowledge would be beneficial.

While most of the instructors are practitioners in the U.S. legal system and the course is focused on English-language drafting, the skill sets developed can be used in many countries and contexts.

No previous drafting experience is necessary, and all levels of experience are welcome.

Certification 

Upon successful completion of the seminar, each participant will be awarded a Certificate of Completion. Successful completion requires that a participant diligently attend all seminar sessions promptly and on time throughout the seminar, read all assignments, and participate in all group discussions and exercises. If a number of sessions are missed without proper reason, the ILI reserves the right to withhold certification.

Format

This seminar is currently offered in-person. Special requests to attend online must be submitted by email as early as possible. Requests will be considered on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the overall experience of each participant and the larger group. In-person seminars, even when being joined online, run from 9:30 am – 4:00 pm Washington, D.C., time.

Course Outline

This seminar will include the following core sessions:

Good Writing in a Legislative Context

• Recognizing good and bad legislative drafting
• Drafting clear legislative sentences
• Plain language, gender neutral, active voice, use of singular, etc.
• In-class exercises to build your skill sets

Legislative Style

• Legislative drafting manuals and style manuals
• Variations in legislative style
• U.S. revenue style

Policy Formulation

• The role of the legislative drafter in policy formulation
• Application, administration, enforcement, and timing

Components of a Bill

• Organization of provisions within a bill
• Titles and headings
• Enacting and resolving clauses
• Purposes, findings, and senses of Congress
• General rules and exceptions
• Effective dates and sunset provisions
• Authorization of appropriations
• Savings clauses and severability clauses
• In-class practice drafting various provisions

Drafting a Simple Bill

• In-class practice turning a proposal for legislation into legislative language

Drafting Amendments to Bills

• The legislative process for amending bills
• The form and language of amendments to bills
• An in-class mock committee mark-up

Drafting Amendments to Statutes

• The form and language of amendments to statutes
• Drafting inside and outside of the quotes
• The Roman Rule

Technology in Legislative Drafting

• Computer software options for legislative drafting
• Tips and tricks to make formatting easier

The seminar will also contain a number of rotating sessions, which dive deeper into specific areas of legislative drafting. Several of the sessions below will be offered each seminar, depending on interest and instructor availability:

• Establishing and abolishing a government agency
• Drafting spending programs
• Drafting grant programs
• Drafting government commissions
• Appropriations drafting
• Drafting regulatory bills
• Drafting tax bills
• Implementation of trade agreements through domestic legislation
• Drafting other forms of legislation (resolutions, etc.)
• Drafting regulations (secondary legislation)
• Drafting model laws
• Statutory interpretation
• Management of legislative drafting offices
• Support offices (i.e. budget, research, law revision)
• Comparative legislative processes

Course Advisors

Kimberly K. Faith is formerly assistant counsel for the Office of the Legislative Counsel of the United States House of Representatives, where she drafted over 500 pieces of legislation for elected Members of Congress. She is active in the international legislative drafting community; she is an organizer of the International Conference on Legislation and Law Reform, for which she is the 2022 conference chair, she served as guest editor of the International Journal of Legislative Drafting and Law Reform in 2018 and 2019, and she is an active member of the Commonwealth Association of Legislative Counsel. She regularly teaches courses on the American government and the Constitution and has taught a three-week intensive course on federal legislation and legislative drafting at her alma mater, Tulane University Law School. She received a Juris Doctorate degree from Tulane University Law School and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and International Development from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Noah Wofsy served for over 39 years with the Office of the Legislative Counsel of the U.S. House of Representatives, the last seven of which he served as Deputy Legislative Counsel. He spent the majority of his career specializing in the areas of election law, including campaign finance law, the administration of the House and other legislative branch offices, and the home rule status of the District of Columbia. During that time, he regularly participated in meetings with visiting staff of legislatures of many foreign nations, including South Korea, Georgia, and Vietnam, as well as the European Parliament. He served for several years as a member of the adjunct faculty of the George Washington University School of Law, where he taught a class on Legislative Analysis and Drafting, and he has been a regular presenter at the Advanced Legislative Process classes held by the Government Affairs Institute of Georgetown University. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree with honors from the James Madison College of Public Affairs at Michigan State University and his law degree from the Gould School of Law at the University of Southern California.