parliamentary counsel

Parliamentary counsel are lawyers who prepare drafts of legislation to be passed into law. The terms parliamentary drafter, parliamentary draftsman, legislative drafting officer and legislative counsel are also widely used. These terms are used in relation to the United Kingdom parliament in Westminster, and other parliaments and assemblies based on the Westminster system. The official title, and organisation, of the parliamentary counsel varies between legislatures. For example, those who draft government legislation for the UK parliament form the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel (established in 1869) while the Scottish Government's Parliamentary Counsel Office drafts legislation for the Scottish Parliament, the (Northern Irish) Office of the Legislative Counsel drafts legislation f...