The practice of law is constantly evolving. New technologies, strategies and clients are challenging lawyers to find ways to keep up. This is especially true in the area of “new law,” a term that is hard to define but can be found in many forms, from alternative legal services providers (ALSPs) to law firm subsidiaries that augment traditional offerings.
New laws are enacted to address issues that arise in society, update existing policies or respond to changing social or economic circumstances. The process of creating new legislation involves numerous steps, including drafting, committee review, floor debate and voting. The goal is to create laws that reflect the needs and priorities of constituents while demonstrating accountability. The legislative process also provides opportunities for collaboration across a variety of stakeholders, including legislators, interest groups and State agencies.
In New York, the legislative process for a bill starts with an idea. Those ideas may be from a senator, a group that calls for a specific policy change or even from an individual seeking assistance from the City government. The legislative staff will then draft the idea as a bill for consideration by the Senate.
Once a bill is passed by both houses of the legislature, it goes to the Governor for signature or veto. The Governor has 10 days to sign or veto bills, and a signed bill becomes law. The legislature can override a Governor’s veto with a two-thirds majority vote in each house.
The new law is then incorporated into the New York Code and published in the Official Records, which includes the Constitution, laws passed by the Legislature and decisions of the courts that interpret those laws. The new law is then implemented by State and local agencies, which are required to comply with the legislation and enforce its terms.
Laws are amended throughout the year, and this is the case for laws relating to health, safety, education, transportation and public welfare. The amendments typically focus on technical or administrative changes. Some of the most significant changes are made in response to the public’s demand for protection or to address the impact of a particular event, such as a natural disaster.
Keeping up with the latest news is essential to your practice, but it can be time-consuming to manually search through the latest news sources. Bloomberg Law brings together the latest international law news on one platform. You can easily customize your news feed to get stories and analysis based on your areas of interest, and you can subscribe to alerts for updated results — delivered at the frequency you select — if you want to stay on top of the latest developments. You can access the new news channel in List View or Filter by Article Type, Topic, Court, Federal Statute, Federal Agency, Company, Law Firm and Location. To subscribe to updates, navigate to the specific news channel you would like to follow and click Create Alert at the top of the results list.