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.

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, instruction in the use of word processors, "roundtable" discussions, and individual student conferences with faculty.

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. Afternoon roundtable discussions will enable participants to 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 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.

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