Young lawyers needed to draft laws in the Pacific

Twenty-three-year-old Loretta Afamasaga is learning to draft laws for her country. The State Solicitor from Samoa, who finished her legal training just six months ago, sought a place in the drafting section of the Attorney-General’s Office so that she could specialise in legislative drafting.

Attending the first ever Technical Forum for legal drafters from eight Pacific island states, Ms Afamasaga recalled how most law students at school had a bad impression of the legislative drafting profession, but she now realises the importance of legal drafters in their community and country.

“As a student, I saw it as boring. I thought I would be confined to my desk without rushing to court and it just did not appeal to my legal taste,” she said.

“It was a presentation made by a legislative drafter that challenged that perception. Our personalities are reflected in our laws and I think you need a certain sensitivity to draft the laws that reflect the Pacific personality and ideals. Foreign consultants don’t always capture this and it can cause a lot of dissatisfaction.”

Governments in the region are struggling to attract and retain a number of specialised lawyers. This has also forced them to hire foreign consultants to fill the gap.

The drafters at the forum, all at different levels of experience, are meeting in Port Vila, Vanuatu, from 26 to 28 June 2007 to share ideas and to learn from seasoned legislative drafters who work in New Zealand’s Parliamentary Counsel Office.

Papua New Guinea lawyer, Lilly Nahuas, commented: “Drafters play a big role in making it easier for lawyers and lay people to understand and interpret the laws.”

To release the current strain on the status of law-making in the Pacific Islands, Katalaina Sapolu, Adviser and Head of Justice Section at the Commonwealth Secretariat, said: “We have to do as much as possible to sell the profession to lawyers fresh out of law school, to train, mentor and retain them.”

Professor Brian Opeskin, Head of Law School at the University of the South Pacific (USP), stated: “Young people as legislative drafters can be involved directly in the process of turning policies into law and they can use their legal skills to help make the laws of their land clearer to their community. That really goes to the very heart of the rule of law.”

Apart from the Technical Forum, which is to be an annual event, the Secretariat and its partners will also be launching a 12-week legislative drafting course to be taught by USP, developing a website to support the drafters, and rolling out a marketing strategy to raise the profile of the profession, among other initiatives.

The meeting is jointly organised by the Commonwealth Secretariat in partnership with the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat and the Office of New Zealand Parliamentary Counsel.

States represented at the meeting include Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Vanuatu, and the Cook Islands.

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