The International Legislative Drafting Institute will be held June 12-23, 2023, in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA!

The Public Law Center (TPLC) launched the International Legislative Drafting Institute in 1995 in response to increasing global demand for training of legislative drafters.  The Institute is a two-week summer program that responds to the worldwide demand on legislative drafters for new laws to support the emergence of free market economies and democratic forms of government. The Institute draws together diverse domestic and international faculty members experienced in the legislative process.

The world is still challenged by the stresses of a global pandemic and armed conflict. We need the Institute more than ever in these troubled times. This summer, we will bring together a worldwide community of legislative policymakers whose work contributes so much to calming troubled waters. Institute training promotes rule of law, which in turn fosters transparent and accountable government. 

Global economic development and new trading networks among nations have created a need for more sophisticated and technically proficient legislative research and drafting. Countries entering the global marketplace and adapting to democratic influences at home and abroad need new laws regulating the environment, economic development, labor relations, and other aspects of the free trade regime. The Institute meets these needs with a curriculum of lectures, readings, drafting exercises, site visits, computer research, and  technological instruction.

The training, intended for both lawyer and non-lawyer drafters, emphasizes pragmatic learning—not theory but practice. Participants will "learn by doing" through drafting exercises, research assignments, and preparation of a formulary for use in their own drafting offices. Participants share ideas and information with each other, learning "how we did it" in response to numerous common problems of interest to drafters.

Guest lecturers drawn from among the ranks of legislative drafters, lobbyists, academia, agency personnel, and legislators instruct participants in the preparation of a variety of legislative instruments - bills and resolutions, constitutional amendments, ordinances, appropriations, agency regulations ("subordinate legislation" in many jurisdictions), committee and floor amendments. Lecture topics may include the ethics of drafting, confidentiality, matters of style (gender-neutral language, grammar, and punctuation), agency rulemaking, constitutional revision, international trade agreements, and codification agencies.

The training also emphasizes the importance of public participation and describes an appropriate role for interest groups and individuals in the legislative process.

Our distinguished array of drafting and subject-matter experts will share their wisdom on best practices in legislative drafting and engage participants in active learning.

Many long-time Institute speakers authored chapters in our new International Legislative Drafting Guidebook (2020). Each Institute registrant will receive a copy of the Guidebook, which contains articles and endnotes to enrich understanding in each speaker’s area of subject-matter expertise.

Click on the cover of the Guidebook below to review the Table of Contents and a page from the Photo Gallery.

Please indicate your interest in the 2023 International Legislative Drafting Institute by taking advantage of our no-cost registration page. Registration enables us to stay in touch with registrants and send periodic updates about this year's Institute. 

We hope to welcome everyone to New Orleans in June!

Order the new International Legislative Drafting Guidebook. Enjoy the wisdom of 25 years' experience in training legislative drafters with articles by Institute speakers.