Law-making

Who should attend?

• Departmental Policy makers in the public service
• 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 and 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

Learning 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

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?