Daniel Greenberg, Parliamentary Counsel

Daniel Greenberg is a Parliamentary and legislation lawyer and author. For 20 years he wrote laws as a member of the Office of Parliamentary Counsel, during the course of which he wrote key laws in the area of constitutional law, tax law, crime and almost every other area of practical law. He consults as in-house Parliamentary Counsel in the Parliamentary Team at Berwin Leighton Paisner BLP, and has a legislative drafting practice for legislation in the UK and abroad. He teaches and trains on statutory interpretation and legislative drafting, both as an Associate Research Fellow of the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies at the University of London ref 1 and in his role as Visiting Professor of Legislation at the University of Derby.

UK and International Drafting Business

Daniel Greenberg was the draftsman to the Hacked Off group for their draft Bill to implement the Leveson Report into press intrusion. [1] [2] [3] [4]

Daniel has also drafted the Medical Innovation Bill, driven by Lord Maurice Saatchi to encourage innovation in medical treatment for cancer patients whilst safeguarding the medical professional and patient. [5] [6] He drafts other private members’ and peers’ bills and has been responsible for much international drafting of bills in Gibraltar, Malaysia & Myanmar. [7]

Parliamentary Business

Daniel has been employed as Deputy Counsel in the Office of the Speaker’s Counsel in the House of Commons, working on domestic legislation. He has been involved in many Commons Select Committees, such as the Committee to take evidence on Ensuring Standards in the Quality of Legislation and the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments, advising them in its scrutiny of secondary legislation produced by Government departments and others. (A list of legislation drafted can be found below) [8] He has been referred to in Parliamentary debates (Hansard) about a variety of topics, including the Mesothelioma Bill [9] & The Banking Bill [10]

Early Life and Education

Born in London in 1965, Daniel was educated at City of London School and Trinity College, Cambridge. He graduated in 1986 with a BA Hons in Law and was called to the Bar in 1987.

Career

Daniel worked as a legal advisor in the Lord Chancellor’s department, before moving to the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel where he worked for 20 years. He now splits his time between consulting, writing and teaching. At Berwin Leighton Paisner Daniel has a broad practice dealing with legislation, including drafting new legislation and amendments to legislation, and advising on statutory application and interpretation throughout the firm’s practice areas. He advises clients on the production and handling of amendments to Government Bills, on influencing and obtaining secondary legislation, and on Parliamentary procedure and machinery of government. [11]

As Parliamentary Counsel (UK) from 1991-2010 Daniel drafted Acts in all areas of law, including tax, crime, regulatory legislation,environmental legislation, employment law, insolvency law, public and constitutional law (including Northern Ireland devolution), housing law, land law, immigration law and health law.

Publications

As a writer, Daniel’s main role is as the General Editor of Westlaw UK Annotated Statutes and the Insight Encyclopaedia. Since the first issue for 2012, he is Editor of the Statute Law Review, and also edits two legal dictionaries as well as contributing to the Oxford English Dictionary. Daniel has authored and edited several books and publications on the subject of legislation and law, including Craies on Legislation, the 10th edition of which was published this year. For an example of a case where the Supreme Court relies on Craies in its judgment see the case of Asange v Sweden in 2012 [2012]UKSC22 [12]

• Editor, Craies on Legislation, 2004, 2008, 2012

• Editor, Stroud’s Judicial Dictionary, 2000, 2006, 2012

• General Editor, Jowitt’s Dictionary of English Law 2010

• Editor in Chief, Statute Law Review (OUP), 2012→

• Laying Down the Law, Sweet & Maxwell, 2011 [13]

Teaching

Daniel is an Associate Research Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies at London University. [14] He also lectures at Derby University School of Law and Criminology. He visits the National Assembly of Wales [15] and the Northern Ireland Assembly, providing training in legislative scrutiny. He also holds voluntary sessions on law and ethics at the Jewish Free School.

Legislation Drafted

List of legislation drafted 1991-2010 (Ignoring small projects, statutory instruments and dropped Bills)

Contributed to: