Legislative Drafting
National drafting offices in the Caribbean, and, particularly in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) or Large Ocean Developing States (LODS), have very limited capacity to deal with the volume of legislation that is required.
Many offices are limited to just one or two full-time drafters and therefore require both skills development and direct assistance in dealing with the volume of the respective legislative agendas.
Demand from Attorney Generals (“AG”) in the Caribbean region for the services of legislative drafters is increasing, particularly in the smaller island states i.e. OECS countries and South Pacific Islands.
This has been repeatedly articulated during direct country needs assessment missions undertaken by various experts and technical co-operation departments of several regional and international bodies.
Temple Stoke is committed to responding directly to urgent and prioritised legislative agenda of the LODS and other countries.
With substantial experience in legislative drafting, we offer specialist maritime and environmental legal drafting expertise and maritime legal research and advice to national drafting offices that have a capacity constraint in this area. We assist them in accomplishing their legislative agenda and complying with their treaty obligations to enact legislation. In particular, we:
- Conduct legal research;
- Conduct legislative reviews;
- Assess regulatory frameworks to identify gaps and make recommendations as to how the regulatory framework can be improved;
- Assess the legal implications of treaties for the domestic legal system and determine the legislative measures necessary to implement the treaty;
- Draft national legislation–Bills, statutory instruments (regulations, rules, licences, etc.) and accompanying material for Cabinet and Parliament;
- Draft model legislation that can be used in several countries by making only minor alterations to make it country specific;
- Draft legislation to incorporate IMO treaties in national law to
fulfil treaty obligations. - Negotiate and draft the required legal instruments (e.g. concession agreements, power purchase agreements).
- Hold stakeholder meetings to shape the needs of the legislation and
- Conduct gap analysis.
Activities include legal drafting opinions, direct assistance to the AG’s office, relevant ministries and agencies, stakeholder meetings, drafting meetings, drafting of drafting guidelines and instructions, legislative sub-committees and other relevant drafting activities.
Temple Stoke offers both long and short term legislative drafting services from 2 weeks up to several months depending on the legislative requirements. We can do it by distance utilising technological solutions like Zoom and Skype or we can come on assignment in-country for the required period.
For more information feel free to contact us.
Maritime Legal Opinions
Temple Stoke provides legal opinions on all contentious matters involving the laws of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines law and Grenada and in particular Maritime legal opinions including Ship Mortgage Deeds, Registration. In furtherance of assisting our clients, our legal consultants serve as resources to expert witnesses for all legal matters involving SVG Law.
Legal opinions are normally on a fixed fee basis that is never onerous. Feel free to contact us for a quote.