Legislative assistant

A legislative assistant (LA), government relations assistant, legislative coordinator, legislative director (LD), legislative fellow, staff assistant, or legislative intern, is a person who works for a legislator in a support role or for an advocacy group in a politically partisan/semi-partisan or bipartisan capacity, in a non-partisan capacity at a think tank, research library, law library, law firm, trade associations, consulting firm or non-profit organization, or at a government agency as a legislative affairs professional, or in the government relations, regulatory affairs, regulatory compliance, public procurement (PP), public-private partnership (P3), business-to-government (B2G), and other similar industries in service of the employing organization by monitoring pending legislation, conducting research, legislative analysis, legislative research, legal research, policy analysis, drafting legislation, giving advice and counsel, making recommendations, conducting advocacy and outreach, and/or performing some administrative/secretarial duties. There is a diverse array of work experiences attainable within the legislative assistance, legislative affairs, and legislative relations field, ranging between internship, entry-level, associate, junior, mid-senior, and senior level positions.^[1][2][3][4]

Members and Senators of the United States Congress (both in the House of Representatives and Senate), as well as most members of other legislative bodies of sub-national subdivisions (states, cities, counties), have multiple legislative assistants who at the basic level are tasked in handling research and briefing (both verbal briefing and written memoranda) duties while legislative assistants that are advanced in their education or careers will advise on issues related to their particular expertise (e.g. education policy, environmental policy, tax policy). Often the assignments will be connected to the committee assignments of the specific elected member for which they work for in a semi-politically partisan capacity.^[5][6][7]

In most offices that report to a specific legislator, there is one staffer, variously called a legislative director (LD), senior legislative assistant (SLA), or senior legislative coordinator, who is in charge of all legislative assistants in the office; sometimes they might have a second in command known as a legislative deputy or legislative deputy director. A person holding an internship level position while performing the duties of a legislative assistant is known as a legislative intern, a person in a similar role but at the fellow or fellowship level is known as a legislative fellow. The most common non-intern entry-level position within the personal staff section of the legislative assistance field is the position of staff assistant, who are responsible for all front office responsibilities, answers phones, schedules tours, often supervises the mail program, and serve as intern coordinators.^[8] A legislative correspondent (LC) is responsible for drafting letters in response to constituents' comments and questions and also generally responsible for a few legislative issues.^{[9][10][11][7]}

A constituent services representative (also known as a caseworker) is generally but not always based in the district office and is responsible for helping constituents deal with problems relating to federal agencies. For example, caseworkers help individuals secure veterans' benefits, aid with Social Security and Medicare, and resolve immigration issues.^[12] Caseworkers may also provide mediation and ombudsman services to constituents and obtain government information and publications.^[13]

A press secretary or communications director is responsible for a legislators relationship with media; serving as a liaison for the local and national press and issues press releases. In offices with no press assistants, this position also runs social media.^[14] A press assistant (PA) or press and digital assistant usually runs social media accounts, draft press releases/op-eds/etc. as delegated by the communications director, and occasionally assist with correspondence with media contacts.^[15]

A scheduler or director of operations is responsible for fully designing and maintaining the legislator's schedule in an administrative support role. This work typically includes making travel arrangements and arranging all events and meetings.^[16]

Legislative counsel are attorneys who advise legislative staff and the legislators on legal issues and ensuring compliance with the law and chamber rules, including ethics guidelines.^[17]

A chief of staff is the highest-ranking and usually highest-paid legislative staffer in the office of a legislator, usually serving as the office's chief operating officer and reporting directly to the lawmaker. A person in this role oversees a dozen or more other employees. Some chiefs of staffs are charged with personnel decisions and policy initiatives. From time to time, a chief of staff may be based out of a district office, but they are almost always found at the Capitol ("on the "Hill"). Chiefs of staff are usually very experienced political staffers, often with years of prior work on the Hill, or are personal friends of Members. Some chiefs of staff were previously campaign managers.^[18] A deputy chief of staff reports to the chief of staff and typically oversees a few policy issues; responsibilities typically include managing the Chief of Staff’s schedule, personal correspondence, and any overflow work delegated by the Chief of Staff.^[19]

The research, think tank, and library divisions of legislative bodies, as such as the Library of Congress and the Congressional Research Service at the national level also utilize legislative analysts and legislative research assistants in providing non-partisan and at times confidential research and advice to members of the legislature and their (immediate) staff while not working directly under the direction, supervision, or authority of a specific elected political-partisan legislator or as committee staff but working on behalf of the legislature as a whole in a non-partisan capacity. They can also be found in other civil service support agency staff positions in legislative agencies. In legal matters, the research service employs legislative attorneys and legislative paralegals.^[20][21]

Some legislatures, like the United States Congress, have offices of legislative counsel, made up of lawyers known as legislative counsel, paralegals known as legislative paralegals, and other support staff that work in a nonpartisan capacity to assist the legislature with the drafting and formatting of laws. The most notable is the Office of the Legislative Counsel of the United States House of Representatives.^{[22][23][24][25]}

Government agencies and cabinet departments in the United States (regardless of branch) have subsidiary offices of legislative affairs or congressional relations, that act as a liaison between government agencies and a legislature, to advocate on behalf of the agency, and to analyze legislation to bring the agency into compliance with new directives, laws, and regulations set forth by the legislature. Some possible positions within an "Office of Legislative Affairs," that participate in legislative assistance are legislative affairs specialists, legislative affairs analysts, congressional affairs specialists, congressional relations liaisons, legislative affairs paralegals, lawyers, and program analysts to name a few.^[26][27][28]

The private sector and voluntary sector including both for-profit businesses and nonprofit organizations as well as advocacy groups, make use of legislative assistants, legislative associates, legislative researchers, legislative paralegal specialists, legislative liaisons, legislative correspondents, staff assistants, legislative coordinators or adjacent positions such as government relations assistants, government relations specialists, government relations fellows, policy and advocacy fellows, specialized secretaries, administrative support specialists, program assistants, program analysts, paralegals, legal secretaries, policy analysts, policy assistants, public policy coordinators, executive assistants, administrative assistants, project assistants, program coordinators, program support specialists, management analysts, research assistants, or lawyers -- such as policy counsel or legislative attorneys -- within their advocacy, government relations, lobbying, policy advocacy, regulatory affairs, regulatory compliance, public procurement (PP), public-private partnership (P3), and business-to-government (B2G) divisions as well as in think tanks, consulting firms, law firms, research libraries, law libraries and trade associations whether it be in a politically-partisan or non-partisan capacity in service of the employing organization's needs.^{[29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36]}

In organizations that conduct lobbying (government relations) activities, especially among advocacy groups and political action committees, exact counterparts with the same or similar titles -- such as legislative correspondent, staff assistant, or legislative coordinator -- exist; in these roles, government relations or policy and advocacy staff participate in administrative, legislative, and outreach duties such as drafting letters, conducting briefings and scheduling advocacy or constituent meetings with congressional staff and work as liaisons or principals when introducing likeminded constituent-advocates to their congress member or senator’s staff.^[37][38][39]

In France, this position was formally opened after Edgar Faure visited the United States Congress in 1975.^[40] The assistants can also work on the non-legislative part of the MP job, such as managing transportation between Paris and the constituency, or handling a part of the MP's public relations.

Following his election, an MEP can submit to the European Parliament one or more application and contract for the secretarial assistance allowance. Sometimes the submission has given way to criminal prosecution of the MEP, who falsely declared the duties of the assistant or diverted part of the financial flux to himself.^[41]

In India, legislative assistants are recruited annually through a programme called the Legislative Assistants to Members of Parliament Fellowship (LAMP Fellowship). This program, initiated by PRS Legislative Research, was conceptualized by the Constitution Club of India in 2010. Every year, 50 candidates are selected and assigned to 50 Members from both the Houses of the Parliament. The selected candidates work as legislative assistants to the members for 11 months and receive a monthly stipend.^[42][43]

Many legislative assistants or those that work in adjacent industries like regulatory affairs, government relations, lobbying, think tanks, research libraries, etc. usually have a higher education degree (bachelor's, minors, concentrations, graduate certificates, master's, or doctoral degrees) in Political Science - its sub-fields such as Public Policy and Public Administration, International Relations, Security Studies -, other disciplines such as Global Studies, Environmental Studies, Law, Economics, Management, Sociology, Criminology, Sociology of Law, Social Work, School of Education, Health Administration, Public Health, Peace and Conflict Studies, Urban Studies, Urban Planning, Legal Studies, Literature and Creative Writing, History, Philosophy, Business Administration, other Social Sciences, and other subject-matter specific education.^{[1][2][44][29][30]}

There are several subdivisions within the Legislative Assistance Career Field with a diversity of job titles as well other career fields that conduct some form of legislative assistance work.^{[1][2][44][26][28][27][20][21][7][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56]}

• Legislative Assistant
• Legislative Director, Senior Legislative Assistant. or Senior Legislative Coordinator
• Legislative Deputy or Legislative Deputy Director
• Legislative Intern, Government Relations Intern, Policy and Advocacy Intern, Public Affairs Intern
• Legislative Fellow, Government Relations Fellow, Policy and Advocacy Fellow, Public Affairs Fellow
• Legislative Correspondent
• Legislative Coordinator
• Legislative Aid
• Legislative Analyst or Legislative Research Assistant
• Staff Assistant
• Legislative Liaison
• Legislative Counsel, Legislative Attorney, Policy Counsel, or Parliamentary Counsel
• Legislative Affairs Specialist, Legislative Affairs Analyst, Congressional Affairs Specialist, or Congressional Relations Liaison
• Legislative Affairs Paralegal, Legislative Paralegal Specialist, Legislative Affairs Paralegal Specialist, Legislative Paralegal, Legislative Legal Assistant
• Legislative Associate
• Legislative Researcher
• Press Assistant or Press and Digital Assistant
• Press Secretary, Communications Director, or Director of Communications
• Constituent Services Representative or Caseworker
• Scheduler, Director of Operations, or Operation Director
• Chief of Staff
• Deputy Chief of Staff
• Most positions in an Office of Legislative Affairs, Office of Congressional Relations, Office of Legislative Relations, or Office of Intergovernmental Relations
• Government Relations, Regulatory Affairs, Regulatory Compliance, Think Tanks, Policy Institutes, Law Firms, Libraries, Consulting Firms, Trade Associations, Professional Associations, Public Procurement (PP), Public-Private Partnership (P3), Business-to-Government (B2G), or similar industries:
  • Government Relations Specialist, Government Affairs Specialist, Government Affairs Assistant
  • Secretary, Specialized Secretary, Administrative Assistant, Program Assistant, Program Analyst, Executive Assistant, Project Assistant, Program Support Specialist, Program Coordinator, or Management Analyst
  • Policy Analyst, Policy Assistant, Public Policy Assistant, or Public Policy Coordinator
  • Paralegal, Legal Assistant, Paralegal Specialist, or Legal Secretary
  • Lawyer, Attorney, or General Counsel
  • Librarian, Research Librarian, Law Librarian
  • Regulatory Affairs Specialist
  • Research Assistant
  • Compliance Assistant or Compliance Specialist

• Summary of congressional staffer positions from Roll Call
• Legislative Assistant Wizard (LAW) Archived 2014-04-07 at the Wayback Machine