Legislative Drafting II

Catalog description

Students receive hands-on training in how to draft effective laws, with an eye toward official transparency and accountability. In addition, they learn how to assess laws for effective implementation. Students who have taken Legislative Drafting I refine their research reports from Legislative Drafting I and submit these to a national law student writing competition. Students confer individually with their professor for assessment of written work, edit progressive drafts, lead critique sessions for drafters, and give brief talks on their papers in the mode of an expert giving testimony before a legislative committee. Students who have not taken Legislative Drafting I are required to draft legislation and prepare a research report that assesses the bill's provisions and demonstrates its effectiveness. Students confer individually with their professor for assessment of written work and edit and rewrite their papers to produce works of such quality that they could be published as student notes in a law review. This course satisfies the requirement that a student take Advanced Legal Analysis and Writing to graduate. Legal Analysis & Writing I and II are prerequisites.