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Senior Legislative Drafter, Attorney General’s Ministry

Reference: PG/BEL/0442
Location: Belize
Duration: 2 Years
Closing Date: 22 Apr 2011

Background

The Attorney General’s Ministry of Belize is responsible for drafting legislation for presentation to the National Assembly following approval by the Cabinet. The sixteen Ministries of the Government together with the Statutory Boards forward requests, many of them urgent, for the drafting of legislation on a regular basis.

The Ministry is headed by the Attorney General and staff including the following officers: Solicitor General; Senior Crown Counsel, four Crown Counsels and, six administrative staff. The AGs Ministry recently lost its only legislative drafter and have since appointed two persons with some drafting skills. As a result, the Ministry is currently lacking the necessary human and technical capacity to respond to the legislative drafting needs of Belize.

Purpose of the Project

The purpose of the project is to strengthen the Government of Belize’s ability to respond to the increasing demands for timely and effective legislation.

The goal is to enhance the legislative drafting capacity of the Attorney General’s Ministry and line Ministries, in the effective and efficient preparation of legislation.

Approach

The project will see the placement of one long-term senior legislative drafter, positioned in the Attorney General’s Ministry for a period of two years. The Commonwealth Fund for Technical Cooperation endeavours to attract and appoint a senior legislative drafter who can bring to the job experience in the administration and management of a legislative drafting unit.

Scope of Work

  • Address the backlog of legislation to be drafted;
  • Undertake and or oversee the drafting of all new legislation coming into the AG’s Ministry;
  • Undertake a needs assessment of current and potential future requirements of the drafting unit;
  • Develop and deliver a comprehensive training and mentoring programme for all junior drafters and staff within the AG’s Office;
  • Develop and deliver hands-on training and workshops to line ministries to strengthen the submission of legislative requests to the AG’s Office;
  • Develop and implement a legislative user guide for current and future reference.

Reporting and Transfer of Expertise

The Commonwealth Secretariat attaches particular importance to the transfer of expertise and knowledge to the assigned counterparts within host institutions. The assigned expert will work closely with the Solicitor General, reporting directly to the Attorney General and the Technical Cooperation and Strategic Response Group.

Outputs/Deliverables:

  • Backlog of outstanding legislation cleared;
  • New Legislation and regulations effectively and timely drafted;
  • Staff within the Attorney General’s Ministry and specifically the drafting unit, mentored and trained in best practice drafting skills;
  • Legal personnel in line ministries, trained in the preparation of clearly articulated drafting instructions;
  • Functional guidelines or reference guide, outlining the drafting protocol and administrative processing governing legislative drafting, developed for use by line ministry officials and drafters within the Attorney General’s ministry.

Qualification and Personal Specification

The expert should have:

  • At least graduate level degree in Law with specialisation in legislative drafting;
  • At least 10-15 years experience in legislative drafting, acquired within Commonwealth jurisdictions;
  • Experience in providing professional advice concerning legislative drafting request;
  • Substantial demonstrable expertise in reviewing and drafting legislation;
  • Strong mentoring and training skills;
  • Strong communication, writing and IT skills;
  • Ability to establish priorities and to plan, coordinate and monitor own work;
  • Excellent interpersonal skills, ability to work in a consultative and collaborative manner;
  • Ability to establish and maintain effective partnerships and working relationships in a diverse environment;
  • Demonstrated leadership in drafting matters.

Interested applicants who are nationals of Commonwealth member countries and who meet post criteria are invited to apply quoting project reference number and post title to the attention of Mr James Lek, Human Resources, Commonwealth Secretariat, Marlborough House, Pall Mall, London SW1Y 5HX. Fax: +44 (0) 207 747 6520. E-mail: j.lek@commonwealth.int. Application must be accompanied with a detailed CV including names and contact details of three referees. On receipt of applications, a summary of the terms and conditions of service together with the emoluments package will be provided to applicants.

Please also complete a Personal History Form (PHF) which is available for download together with the Skill Codes Booklet from the Commonwealth Secretariat website.

Download the Terms of Reference