Her Majesty The Queen
The death of Her Majesty The Queen is a profoundly sad moment for the Commonwealth.
Her Majesty's life was one of extraordinary dedication and service and throughout her reign she enjoyed a long and enduring bond with people across the Commonwealth.
On behalf of CALC, I convey our sincere sorrow and deepest condolences to The King, The Queen Consort and all the Royal Family.
Andy Beattie, CALC President
Legislative responses to COVID-19
See the information table at this new page.
RSS feeds
RSS feeds have been set up for this webpage -- see the footer block below.
To set up an RSS feed, copy the URL for each feed into an RSS reader, as follows:
- The Loophole: calc.ngo/rss/loophole.xml
- The Newsletter: calc.ngo/rss/newsletter.xml
- Conference papers: calc.ngo/rss/papers.xml
- Conferences: calc.ngo/rss/conferences.xml
- Employment: calc.ngo/rss/employment.xml
- What’s new: calc.ngo/rss/whats-new.xml
Meredith Leigh appointed new First Parliamentary Counsel
Congratulations to Meredith Leigh on her appointment as the new First Parliamentary Counsel, Australian Government Office of Parliamentary Counsel.
Honours for 2 exceptional legislative drafters
CALC’s President, Geoff Lawn, says: “2 CALC members have been made a Dame Commander of the Order of the Bath in this year’s UK Queen’s Birthday Honours. These are our very own Brenda King, our Immediate Past President, and Elizabeth Gardiner, First Parliamentary Counsel in the UK OPC. This is such wonderful and well-deserved recognition of their many years of service, and it is great to see the work of legislative drafters recognised in this way. I have congratulated Brenda and Elizabeth on behalf of CALC.”
Congratulations to Peter Quiggin on his appointment as a Queen's Counsel
CALC members congratulate Peter Quiggin PSM on his appointment as a Queen's Counsel.
Hon Christian Porter MP, Attorney General for Australia, made the appointment announcement on 15 October 2020.
Mr Quiggin PSM is First Parliamentary Counsel, Office of Parliamentary Counsel. He has served as Australia’s First Parliamentary Counsel since 2004. Mr Quiggin was awarded a Public Service Medal in the 2008 Australia Day Honours List for outstanding public service in delivering the government's legislative agenda at a time of significant legislative change and in a number of critical areas.
Peter has also served as CALC's President from 2011 to 2017. As CALC members appreciate, Peter also showed outstanding leadership and service in that role.
Above is a recent photo of Peter with the banner that celebrates OPC’s 50th anniversary.
Pacific Toolkit: From policy to legislation
Congratulations to the Pacific Islands Law Officers' Network (PILON) and Australian Attorney-General's Department on launching this Toolkit.
The Toolkit is available for download here.
Coming up
2025 Australasian PCC/CALC Regional Drafting Conference
**REGISTRATIONS CLOSED**
Where: Beaumonde on the Point, Perth, Western Australia
When: 26 - 28 February 2025
More info: Registration, venue and speak application information is available on the conference page.
2025 International Legislative Drafting Institute in New Orleans
The Public Law Center at Tulane Law School will host the 30th Anniversary of its International Legislative Drafting Institute in 2025.
When: 9 - 20 June 2025
Where: New Orleans
More info: Registration information is available on the conference page.
Employment
For more information about employment opportunities and contract drafters, see the Employment page.
| Position | Closing Date | Information for applicants |
| First Parliamentary Counsel, Office of the Parliamentary Counsel, London, United Kingdom | 28 February 2024, 9.00 am GMT | Job advertisement (includes links to further information and how to apply) |
| 3 Assistant Parliamentary Counsel, Office of the Parliamentary Counsel, London, United Kingdom | 7 January 2024, 11.55 pm GMT | Job advertisement (includes links to further information and how to apply) |
| 2 Principal Council Officers and 1 Senior Council Officer, Regulation Committee, Legislative Council, NSW Parliament, Australia | 3 December 2023, 11.59 pm AEDT |
Job description and application details for |
| RFQ - Consultant - Commonwealth Principles and Model Law on the Enforcement of Suppression Orders, Commonwealth Secretariat | 24 November 2023, 17:00 GMT |
Job description and application details Note - date has been extended from 15 November to 24 November. |
| Experienced legislative drafters, either at Independent or Advanced level - Parliamentary Counsel Office, New Zealand | 15 September 2023 | Job description and application details |
| House Legal Counsel - House of Delegates, Palau National Congress, Palau | 23 October 2023 (or until filled) | Job description and application details |
| Legislative Counsel - Legislative Drafting Department, Cayman Islands | 25 August 2023 |
Job ad (includes link to apply) - Important! Job ad will be posted on the careers website on 11 August 2023 so applications cannot be made before that date. |
| Legal Drafter - Solicitor General's Office, Fiji. The role will support in-line legislative drafting functions and on-the-job training methods to improve the drafting skills of staff within the Drafting Division. The role may also contribute to Continuing Legal Education activities for legal professionals. | 2 July 2023, 5:00 pm local Suva time |
Full details on the Tetra Tech website: Tetra Tech International Development (job reference number 500166) Applications must be made through the Tetra Tech website above Further enquiries: email HR@ausfijifacility.org and quote the job reference number 500166 |
| Director General Parliamentary Counsel Team Leader (2 posts) - Office of the Parliamentary Counsel, London, United Kingdom | 18 May 2023 | |
| Legislative drafter to produce a model law on military justice - Commonwealth Secretariat | 6 April 2023 (RFQ) | Description and how to apply |
|
Roles available at the Western Australian Parliamentary Counsel’s Office:
|
New closing date: 13 March 2023 (6pm AWST) |
Description and contact details - Senior Parliamentary Counsel Description and contact details - Senior Assistant/Assistant Parliamentary Counsel |
| Legislative Drafter - Falkland Islands Government | 5 March 2023 (midnight Falkland Islands time) | Description and contact details |
| Senate Legal Counsel - Senate, Palau National Congress, Palau | 17 February 2023 or until filled (applicants are encouraged to contact or submit applications even if the date has passed) | Description and contact details |
| Deputy Chief Parliamentary Counsel - Office of the Parliamentary Counsel, Northern Territory, Australia | 15 January 2023 | |
| Legislative Drafter - Legislative Drafting Office, Jersey | 9 January 2023 | |
| Legal Drafter – Specialist Advisor IV, Department of State, International Narcotics and Law Enforcement, Belize | 30 November 2022 | Description and how to apply |
| Legal Draftsperson and Legislative Drafting Division Adviser, Solomon Islands | 14 October 2022 |
Legal Draftsperson description (and how to apply) Legislative Drafting Division Adviser description (and how to apply) |
|
Senior Parliamentary Counsel, Parliamentary Counsel’s Office, Western Australia |
11 August 2022 |
Job description (334 KB) |
|
Legislative Drafting Consultant - Commonwealth Model Legislative Provisions on Abuse of Positions of Trust |
23 June 2022 | Terms of reference (107 KB) |
|
Chief Legislative Drafter, Attorney-General's Chambers, Isle of Man |
26 June 2022 | |
|
Senior Legislative Drafter, Attorney-General's Chambers, Isle of Man |
23 June 2022 |
CALC provides links to information about various courses and training in legislative drafting.
Services
CALC has a number of services that are provided for the benefit of members and legislative drafting offices.
These services include:
- advertising drafting positions
- the CALC online drafting advice service
- the CALC office organisation advice service.
For more details, please see the CALC Services Page.
Publications catalogue
Find papers and articles published in the Newsletter or Loophole.
Forum
The forum is only available for registered and logged in members.
Drafting manuals and other resources
CALC provides links to online drafting manuals and other resources.
Training
CALC provides links to information about various courses and training in legislative drafting.