Blueprints for Parliaments
Legal standards, AI tools, and global engagement practices reshaping legislative work
You might remember my conversation with Matthew Lynch, who works for the UK’s National Archives and serves as the service owner for Lawmaker, a shared legislative drafting and publication platform now used by multiple UK parliaments. In that discussion, he explained how they built Lawmaker using the international LegalDocML standard.
Following that post, Monica Palmirani, Professor of Legal Informatics and IT Law at the University of Bologna, left a comment noting that LegalDocML is also known as AKOMA NTOSO and is publicly available online. She also mentioned the upcoming Summer School LEX2025, where Matthew Lynch will be speaking in person. More details should be available on her LinkedIn profile soon.
In case you missed it, our previous post covered a collaboration between the Parliament of Côte d’Ivoire and the French Parliament — supported by Inter Pares — to strengthen Côte d’Ivoire’s capacity to assess the real-world impact of public policy.
Here’s the latest on legislative AI and modernization, including StaffLink, an open-source AI chatbot for junior staffers developed by POPVOX Foundation and POPVOX, Inc., and a call from the International Parliament Engagement Network (IPEN) for insights on how parliaments engage with the public.
Beatriz Rey, Ph.D.
StaffLink: Rethinking Staff Support with AI
POPVOX Foundation has launched StaffLink, an open-source, AI-powered chatbot tailored specifically for junior staffers in the US Congress. Designed in collaboration with POPVOX.com and informed by public resources from the Modernization Staff Association (MSA), StaffLink provides answers on everything from vote bells and constituent calls to Hill protocols and ethics rules. Using retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) and OpenAI’s API on a low-creativity setting, the tool avoids AI “hallucinations” by grounding responses strictly in vetted documents.
Currently in beta at stafflink.popvox.com and pending House approval, StaffLink is a demonstration of how AI can support legislative staff without sacrificing trust or transparency — citing its sources and updating its knowledge base in real time. As legislatures worldwide explore ways to modernize internal workflows, StaffLink offers a compelling, replicable model for using AI to strengthen institutional knowledge and support frontline staff.
What Does Parliamentary Public Engagement Look Like Around the World?
Last year, a global survey was launched to map how parliaments engage with the public from national to subnational legislatures. Now, the first version of that map is coming together. The project, Mapping Public Engagement in Parliaments Across the World, is led by Dr. Laura Sudulich (University of Essex), as part of her Parliamentary Academic Fellowship at the UK Parliament in collaboration with the International Parliament Engagement Network (IPEN).
The survey remains open to officials and civil society actors involved in parliamentary engagement. If you work in or with a parliament, there's still time to make sure your experience is included. You can read more about the initiative here. At ModParl, we are following this project closely. It is a unique effort to create a global, accessible picture of how representative institutions connect with the public.
The Latest on AI
Rwanda is developing an AI-powered mobile app to give citizens instant access to legal texts and case law.
India is developing a sovereign Large Language Model.
The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) released a case study on how the Estonian Parliament is equipping MPs and staff to use AI tools responsibly.
The European Commission’s Interoperability Test Bed (ITB) has launched an “Ask AI” AI assistant to help users navigate technical documentation with AI-powered Q&A, source citations, and trust scores.
Juan de Dios Cincunegui shared his chapter in the new report Artificial Intelligence in Legislative Services, highlighting how political systems shape AI implementation in parliaments and stressing the need for human resource training. The report is a Bússola Tech initiative with the Organization of American States (OAS), Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA), and the Legislative Assembly of Rio Grande do Norte, in Brazil.
Modernization Resources
A new edition of Exploring Parliament showcases recommendations from 38 academics and 35 parliamentary practitioners to make UK legislatures more accessible and comprehensible. Edited by Cristina Leston Bandeira, Alexandra Meakin, and Louise Thompson, the book aims to help students and the public better understand how Westminster and regional or local legislatures work in theory and practice.
The House of Lords Select Committee on Statutory Inquiries has released its report “Public Inquiries: Enhancing Public Trust,” which offers key recommendations to improve the effectiveness and credibility of public inquiries in the UK, and could serve as a resource for other legislatures.
Other News
Kanishka Narayan, a member in the UK’s House of Commons, launched KanishkaKloud, a tool that visualizes what MPs talk about most by analyzing their speeches in Parliament.
For the first time in Trinidad and Tobago’s history, women now hold the country’s three highest political offices: President, Prime Minister, and Opposition Leader.
Events
May 20: Information Seminar on the Structure and Functioning of the Inter-Parliamentary Union 2024 (IPU, Geneva, Switzerland)
May 22: Examples of AI Governance in Parliaments (IPU, Virtual)
May 27: Legislando para o Futuro: A Governança Antecipatória na Ação Parlamentar (ParlAmericas, Montevideo, Uruguai)
June 13: 4th Global Conference on Parliamentary Studies (Athens, Greece)
June 18-20: Inaugural Africa Regional Conference on Parliament and Legislation (AFRIPAL, Kampala, Uganda)
October 1-3: Athens Democracy Forum (Athens, Greece)
October 7–9: Open Government Partnership Summit (Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain)
October 6–12: 68th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference (Bridgetown, Barbados)
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