drafting a course to success
Legislative drafting can be accompanied by much gnashing of teeth. Ask any number of hapless government legislative staff. Constructing a legally sound, coherent legislative document is not as simple as it seems, in addition to good writing and compositional skills, the drafter must have an understanding of the legislative process and of the impact and effectiveness of legislation. These skills are not often taught in law school or learned in law practice. A well-constructed, well-written draft can ease the passage of proposed legislation through parliament and facilitate its faithful interpretation by courts. Skilled legislative drafting contributes to that elusive, desirable combination of peace and good government.
Drafting abilities certainly come with experience. However, in many parts of the Commonwealth the only drafting training junior staff get is of the impromptu variety at the office, with widely varying levels of senior support. Providing full time, formal training had a hefty overseas education price tag many governments are increasingly unwilling or unable to afford. A distance education course on the side while staff keep their day jobs up, and consequently costs to the government down, is a likely cost-effective alternative. Recognizing this, The Commonwealth of Learning (COL) began developing a distance-training programme for legislative drafters in 1992, in collaboration with the Commonwealth Secretariat's Legal and Constitutional Affairs Division (ComSec).
The curriculum for the COL/ComSec legislative drafting programme was put together by an international project advisory group of expert trainers and is based on Commonwealth legal practice. Course design and development was jointly funded by COL and the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Co-operation (CFTC). Authoring was provided by Professor Keith Patchett, a legislative drafter and trainer from the Royal Institute for Public Administration (RIPA) in London, with instructional design provided by TDA Consulting Group Ltd. of Kew, England. The guided independent study course uses print materials and audio tapes, in some cases supplemented by local mentor support, and is designed for adaptability to individual jurisdictions. It serves both as an introduction to drafting as well as an upgrade for practicing professionals. A field test with a group of trainee drafters in Barbados further refined the course; a six-module version was approved in 1993, and a revised edition for 2000 has just been issued.
The programme's goal is course delivery through regional institutions, with updates and upgrades covered by COL's licensing fees. A pilot programme, which ran from 1996 to 1998 with an enrolment of thirty, was contracted for delivery by RIPA (International) in London. Graduates included legal staff from the governments of Cyprus, Falkland Islands, India, Malaysia and Singapore. The University of the South Pacific licensed the course in 1998 for its Professional Diploma in Legislative Drafting. In 1999, South Africa's Vista University licensed the course material for a graduate legislative drafting certificate.
Recent licensees include the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel, Australia and the Institute of International Legal Research at the University of Amsterdam, Netherlands, the latter for limited use of the materials. Licensing negotiations are underway with institutions in Canada and Papua New Guinea.
If caveat emptor is the order of the day, the success of any enterprise speaks for itself: the programme's enrolment figures are steady, and graduates have included a high court registrar, a police commissioner and a Member of Parliament. As for cost effectiveness? Ringing in at about half the estimated UK £7,000 cost of full time overseas training, the COL/ComSec legislative drafting programme is living up to its promise.
- Grace Chin
