11                                                 Government  lawyers  to  provide  advice  continually  to  the  Government  on  good legislative  practice.    Its  most  important  work  product  has  been  the  Legislation Advisory  Committee  Guidelines,  which  are  adopted  by  Cabinet  as  appropriate benchmarks for legislation to meet.¹²    30 Seminars  conducted  by  the  Committee  on  the  guidelines  last  year  attracted  400 public servants.  The Guidelines themselves are under review.  It has occurred to me in relation to this work that an early warning system would be helpful.  Where agencies  are  planning  legislation, the architecture  of  it  needs  to  be  settled  early and in accordance with sound legal and constitutional principles.    31 At present, the Law Commission analyses all Bills introduced for the Legislation Advisory Committee and reports to the Committee on them.  The Committee then takes the issues up with Parliamentary Counsel, the appropriate Minister, officials or itself makes submissions to a Select Committee.  It all depends on what seems to be the most appropriate in the circumstances.  Agencies and departments are also  coming  to  consult  with  the  LAC  in  advance  of  framing  their  legislative proposals, and there is considerable benefit in that practice.  Watch this space for further developments.    32 Early  discussion  about  the  choice  of  legislative  vehicles  and  the  methods  of complying  with  the  Guidelines  would  improve  the  quality  of  legislation  a  great deal.  It is often too late once the measure has been drafted.    33 Ongoing  discussions  about  how  this  can  be  achieved  have  been  commenced between  the  Law  Commission  and  the  Ministry  of  Justice  and  Department  of Prime Minister and Cabinet.  This is my second priority. Projects 34 At present the Law Commission has on its work programme a review on Access to Court Records which is really unfinished business left over from the Official Information Act.  It has a project on Custom and Human Rights in the Pacific.  It 12   Legislation   Advisory   Committee   Legislation   Advisory   Committee:   Guidelines   on   Process   and Content of Legislation (Legislation Advisory Committee, Wellington, 2001) <http://www.justice.govt.nz/lac/index.html> (last accessed 13 February 2006).