Legal Methods II: Methods of Statutory Drafting and Interpretation

This intensive course pursues two objectives: in addition to examining the methodologies of interpreting statutes, the course will principally focus on their drafting. In the traditional classroom component of the course, students will work their way through several examples of statutory text and legislative history, before addressing how courts and agencies have interpreted those statutes. The experiential aspect of the course will cast students in the roles of statutory drafters, implementers, and interpreters. Working in groups, students will first draft a proposed statute in response to a specified problem. The students next will be assigned the role of regulators ultimately tasked with the statutes' enforcement, and in that guise will anticipate issues in the implementation of the draft statutes in order to advise the drafters of potential problems, and to recommend solutions. The drafters then will rewrite the statute in light of agency feedback. Finally, the students will serve as judges called upon to interpret and apply the now-enacted statutes to specific fact scenarios. By immersing students in different actors' perspectives on the statutory drafting process we aim not only to promote students' drafting skills, but also to enable students to perceive and appreciate concerns that arise throughout the process - concerns that after-the-fact judicial review may mute. Caselaw and selected secondary authorities on statutory drafting and interpretation complement the students' first-hand experience at drafting and applying statutory text.