The purpose of the Office of the Legislative Counsel is to advise and assist the House, its Committees, and Members in the achievement of a "clear, faithful, and coherent expression of legislative policies". Our goal is to prepare drafts that accurately reflect the legislative objectives of the Member or Committee concerned, that are legally sufficient to carry out that policy, and that are as clear and well organized as possible under the circumstances. Although this goal may not be achieved in every case, we seek, to the extent possible within existing time constraints, to improve the clarity and technical accuracy of the legislative product, avoid drafting errors, and reduce unnecessary confusion and litigation.
The office is neutral as to issues of legislative policy. Since our inception, we have provided legislative drafting assistance to Members representing all political viewpoints while maintaining confidentiality with each client.
Professional legislative drafting in the House of Representatives began in 1916 as an experiment offered to the House by a professor at Columbia Law School, Middleton Beaman. The experiment was successful, and Mr. Beaman was appointed Legislative Counsel to the House in 1918 pursuant to an amendment to the Revenue Act of 1918. At first, the office focused primarily on tax legislation. Over the following decades, the work of the office gradually expanded to cover every area of federal law. The statutory charter for the office was enacted in the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970. This was followed by an expansion in staff, and over time, a gradual change to the current specialization system within the office. Under that system, each attorney primarily handles legislative drafting requests in a specialized area of the law.
Throughout the period after 1970 until the present time, the office experienced a gradual expansion in staff, as well as a decided shift towards specialization by attorneys into specific fields of Federal law. During that period the office also progressed through a remarkable evolution in the use of a variety of technological systems affecting every aspect of our work.