CBA Record March-April 2025

THE YOUNG LAWYERS SECTION

member has at least some expertise in each area covered by their team. This ensures that an attorney has backup in case they have a large workload or need time off. My team primarily handles laws affecting natural resources and infrastructure, but during my time at SLC, I have worked on subjects as diverse as federal highway pro grams, agricultural programs, and nuclear safety laws. Although SLC does hire people directly out of law school, my route to employment was more roundabout. I have always had an interest in the legis lative process, so I tried to take whatever applicable classes I could find while in law school. After I graduated, I first wanted to see the law in action, so I found a clerk ship with a Cook County judge. Work ing on the commercial calendar gave me my first true experience with interpreting statutory and contractual language. As my clerkship ended, I knew I wanted to get involved in the legislative process, but I was not interested in the traditional polit ical or campaign staffer route that many aspiring Capitol Hill-types seek out. That is when I stumbled upon a posi tion with the Legislative Reference Bureau of the Illinois General Assembly. Each state legislature has created some version of a nonpartisan legislative drafting office, though the responsibilities can vary widely. Legislative drafting seemed like a good fit for me from the start: a job about politics without being political, while also focusing on my interests in legal writing and gaining policy expertise. After nearly four years of honing my craft in Spring field, I saw a posting for a position at SLC and jumped at the opportunity. Drafting is at once fascinating, chal lenging, and satisfying. The position provides a unique view of the legislative process: a drafter sees where both sides are in negotiations over legislation, and how close—or far apart—the two sides of the negotiating table really are. It also truly immerses the drafter in particular areas of law. But it can be demanding as well: I have pulled my share of all-night drafting sessions. Most importantly, though, the work is satisfying. While I cannot deny

Legislative Counsel By Mark Mazzone

S tatutory text permeates nearly every aspect of being a lawyer, but few lawyers know exactly where that text comes from. The truth is that modern statutory law is too broad and too precise for most laypeople to craft effec tively. Given the complexities of contem porary statutory drafting, the past century has seen the development of a niche cadre of lawyers who have expertise in the art and science of legislative drafting. In the U.S. Senate, those attorneys can be found where I work, in the United States Senate Office of the Legislative Counsel (SLC). SLC attorneys handle legislation through the entirety of consid eration in the Senate. Before a bill is intro duced, we work directly with a senator and their staff to create legislation that is clear to readers, well organized, and effective at carrying out the senator’s intent. Beyond handling the substantive text of a bill, we also create the instructions that ensure existing law is correctly amended to reflect Congress’s intent. And after introduction, SLC handles nearly everything that could affect that bill in the Senate, including

amendments in committee, amendments for consideration on the Senate floor, and conferencing that bill with the House of Representatives (which has their own Leg islative Counsel office). SLC prides itself on its nonpartisan and nonpolitical position in the Senate. Attorneys work closely with senators and committee staff from both political parties. We are trusted across the Senate because the work product we generate and the conversations we have with cli ents are covered by attorney-client privi lege and because we do not advocate for any particular policy goals. In fact, we do not make any policy on our own: we may try to clarify intent or point out poten tial constitutional or logistical problems, but ultimately the senators are our clients and, as with any other attorney with any other client, how the client wants to pro ceed is the final word on the issue. SLC is divided into five teams of attor neys that cover the breadth of federal law. Within each team, each attorney has subject matter areas for which they are primarily responsible, but each team

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