Episode 80: Behind the Provisions – A Window into Legislative Drafting
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Episode 80: Behind the Provisions – A Window into Legislative Drafting
Broadcast Date: April 22, 2024
Summary
Who are Legislative and Parliamentary Counsel? What do they do? In this episode, lawyers involved with the 2024 CIAJ Legislative Drafting Conference speak about their work and an exciting part of the profession that is often quite removed from the spotlight. Topics include the role of drafters in different offices and the evolution of the profession with an eye to the future.
Guests
- Sandra Markman, Deputy Chief Legislative Counsel, Legislative Services Branch, Public Law and Legislative Services Sector, Department of Justice Canada
- Mark Spakowski, Chief Legislative Counsel, Ministry of the Attorney General, Ontario
- Lerissa Thaver, Senior Legislative Counsel, Ministry of Justice and Attorney General, Saskatchewan
Host
- Charlie Feldman, Legislative Counsel, Department of Justice Canada
Bios:
Sandra Markman, Deputy Chief Legislative Counsel, Legislative Services Branch, Public Law and Legislative Services Sector, Department of Justice Canada
Sandra Markman is the head of the Legislation Section at the Department of Justice, Canada, having been a legislative drafter, manager of legislative drafters and educator for most of her career.
A native of Montreal, Sandra was called to the Barreau du Québec in 1980 and then entered private practice. In 1984, she moved to Ottawa to obtain a Diploma of Legislative Drafting from the University of Ottawa. After graduating in 1985, she joined the Department of Justice Canada, where she spent 22 years as a legislative drafter and manager.
In 2007, Sandra left Canada to work overseas, mainly in the Caribbean, Europe and Australia, where she drafted legislation and provided mentoring and training to legislative drafters, as well as heading drafting offices.
In 2017 Sandra returned to Canada to head the Legislative Counsel Office of the Government of Yukon, where she worked until returning to the Department of Justice Canada in 2021.
In addition to being a Canadian lawyer, currently a member of the Law Society of Yukon, Sandra also qualified in Australia.
Sandra has also taught law. She served as an adjunct (part-time) and visiting professor in the Faculty of Common Law at the University of Ottawa, teaching legislative drafting and related subjects to undergraduate and graduate law students. In 2008, she was an instructor in the course for Parliamentary Counsel offered by the Commonwealth Secretariat in Georgetown, Guyana for Parliamentary Counsel from the Caribbean region. Sandra also developed and taught the Advanced Diploma in Legislative Drafting Programme at the Honorable Society of King’s Inns in Dublin, the first such course offered in Ireland (the first students graduated in July 2011).
Mark Spakowski, Chief Legislative Counsel, Ministry of the Attorney General, Ontario
Mark rejoined the Ontario Office of Legislative Counsel as Chief Legislative Counsel in September, 2011. He started as a legislative counsel in Ontario in 1989 and worked there for about ten years before working as a legislative drafter in Nunavut, Kenya and in private practice (which included work in Bermuda, Swaziland and Malaysia). He has an LL.B from the University of Western Ontario, a Diploma in Legislative Drafting from the University of Ottawa, an MPA from Queen’s University and an LL.M from York University.
Lerissa Thaver, Senior Legislative Counsel, Ministry of Justice and Attorney General, Saskatchewan
Lerissa Thaver is Senior Legislative Crown Counsel with the Government of Saskatchewan and has been with the Legislative Drafting Branch for a decade. She obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology in 2010 from the University of Regina and received her Juris Doctor in 2013 from the University of Saskatchewan. She started her legal career in 2014 as a Crown Prosecutor with the Government of Saskatchewan and shortly after was hired by the Legislative Drafting Branch. She has presented at a number of conferences on a variety of legislative topics and is currently the co-chair of the CIAJ Legislative Drafting Conference Committee. In her spare time, Lerissa can be found rock climbing, watercolour painting, training her dog and spending time disc golfing with her spouse.
Charlie Feldman, Legislative Counsel, Department of Justice Canada
Charlie Feldman is President of the Canadian Study of Parliament group and Counsel at Justice Canada. He has previously been a counsel in the Office of the Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel at both the Senate and House of Commons, with prior work experience at the Library of Parliament and Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress. He serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Parliamentary and Political Law and contributes regularly to Canadian Parliamentary Review.
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