Rule Author — UK legislative drafting rules (multi-batch)
Budget / Salary$30–250
TypeFreelance project
LocationRemote
Posted1 hour ago
Programme value: up to $900 across six batches.
This bid is for one batch only — budget $150.
The programme is divided into six batches at $150 each. Bid for the first. If it comes back to a professional standard you are invited to the next, and the one after it — up to all six. Each batch is commissioned and paid separately, and no batch is guaranteed.RuleWe are building a documented set of rules on how UK legislative and contractual language works, for use in a text-processing system.
This is not translation, not commentary, and not a literature review, and you are not drafting legislation. You are writing rules about statutory and contractual language — rules that can be checked against the words on the page.
The programme — six batches. The work is divided into six batches, which may run in sequence or in parallel:
B1 — Normative force, negation, conditions and exceptions
B2 — Reference, addressee, document structure, unit boundaries
B3 — Definitions, scope, time and commencement, amendment, legal effect
B4 — Liability, indemnity, quantity, causation, discretion, attribution
B5 — Contractual genre: endeavours, termination, force majeure, assignment
B6 — Cross-checking and consolidation
This advertisement is for B1. If the first batch comes back to a professional standard, you are invited to the next, and the one after it — up to all six. Each batch is commissioned and paid separately at the same rate. No batch is guaranteed, and the programme continues only while the work holds. The same applies to every author we engage; more than one author may run different batches at the same time.
What you will produce in B1: 15 to 25 rules covering must · shall · may · shall not · may not · should · is required to · is entitled to · unless · provided that · subject to · except · notwithstanding.
For each rule: the marker · the function it assigns · the rule in one sentence · the discriminator · the blocker · the source with rule and paragraph · a positive example · a negative example · and how settled it is.
The corpus is provided — two official texts, normalised, with anchors and a marker census already done. You do not go looking for texts.
The discriminator is the heart of the work. It must be visible in the text: a word, a position, a structure, a punctuation mark. "The context makes it clear" is not a discriminator. "The drafter's intention" is not a discriminator. If a rule has no visible discriminator, say so — that answer is useful and is paid the same.
What we do not want: the history of drafting style · comparison with US or EU practice · advice on how to draft better · opinions on whether shall should be abandoned · any rule that cannot be checked against the words.
Who we are looking for: practice in legislative or contract drafting in English — not general legal English, not translation. We accept as evidence any two of: you have drafted or revised legislation in English; worked in a government drafting office or parliamentary counsel role; drafted or negotiated commercial contracts under English law; taught legislative drafting; published on the interpretation of shall / may.
Terms. A confidentiality and IP-assignment agreement is signed before the material is sent, and a written declaration of any AI tool use is required before starting — declaring does not reduce the fee; concealing it voids the work. You will not review your own rules: every batch is judged by two independent reviewers who did not draft it.
Screening question — answer this in your proposal.
A UK provision reads: "The Authority shall publish the register, and shall not disclose personal data contained in it unless required by law."
What in the text itself — not in your sense of the meaning — tells you what function each shall carries? And what exactly does the unless lift: the whole prohibition, or only part of it? If the text does not settle a point, say so and say why.
Also name one specific statute or statutory instrument you have drafted or revised, and say what your role was. If your work has been on interpreting rather than drafting, say that plainly — it is acceptable, but I need to know which.
Proposals without an answer to the screening question are not read. Author — UK legislative drafting rules (multi-batch)
This bid is for one batch only — budget $150.
The programme is divided into six batches at $150 each. Bid for the first. If it comes back to a professional standard you are invited to the next, and the one after it — up to all six. Each batch is commissioned and paid separately, and no batch is guaranteed.RuleWe are building a documented set of rules on how UK legislative and contractual language works, for use in a text-processing system.
This is not translation, not commentary, and not a literature review, and you are not drafting legislation. You are writing rules about statutory and contractual language — rules that can be checked against the words on the page.
The programme — six batches. The work is divided into six batches, which may run in sequence or in parallel:
B1 — Normative force, negation, conditions and exceptions
B2 — Reference, addressee, document structure, unit boundaries
B3 — Definitions, scope, time and commencement, amendment, legal effect
B4 — Liability, indemnity, quantity, causation, discretion, attribution
B5 — Contractual genre: endeavours, termination, force majeure, assignment
B6 — Cross-checking and consolidation
This advertisement is for B1. If the first batch comes back to a professional standard, you are invited to the next, and the one after it — up to all six. Each batch is commissioned and paid separately at the same rate. No batch is guaranteed, and the programme continues only while the work holds. The same applies to every author we engage; more than one author may run different batches at the same time.
What you will produce in B1: 15 to 25 rules covering must · shall · may · shall not · may not · should · is required to · is entitled to · unless · provided that · subject to · except · notwithstanding.
For each rule: the marker · the function it assigns · the rule in one sentence · the discriminator · the blocker · the source with rule and paragraph · a positive example · a negative example · and how settled it is.
The corpus is provided — two official texts, normalised, with anchors and a marker census already done. You do not go looking for texts.
The discriminator is the heart of the work. It must be visible in the text: a word, a position, a structure, a punctuation mark. "The context makes it clear" is not a discriminator. "The drafter's intention" is not a discriminator. If a rule has no visible discriminator, say so — that answer is useful and is paid the same.
What we do not want: the history of drafting style · comparison with US or EU practice · advice on how to draft better · opinions on whether shall should be abandoned · any rule that cannot be checked against the words.
Who we are looking for: practice in legislative or contract drafting in English — not general legal English, not translation. We accept as evidence any two of: you have drafted or revised legislation in English; worked in a government drafting office or parliamentary counsel role; drafted or negotiated commercial contracts under English law; taught legislative drafting; published on the interpretation of shall / may.
Terms. A confidentiality and IP-assignment agreement is signed before the material is sent, and a written declaration of any AI tool use is required before starting — declaring does not reduce the fee; concealing it voids the work. You will not review your own rules: every batch is judged by two independent reviewers who did not draft it.
Screening question — answer this in your proposal.
A UK provision reads: "The Authority shall publish the register, and shall not disclose personal data contained in it unless required by law."
What in the text itself — not in your sense of the meaning — tells you what function each shall carries? And what exactly does the unless lift: the whole prohibition, or only part of it? If the text does not settle a point, say so and say why.
Also name one specific statute or statutory instrument you have drafted or revised, and say what your role was. If your work has been on interpreting rather than drafting, say that plainly — it is acceptable, but I need to know which.
Proposals without an answer to the screening question are not read. Author — UK legislative drafting rules (multi-batch)
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