Procedural fairness requires that regulators give meaningful reasons explaining their decisions. Judicial scrutiny of regulatory decisions focuses on those reasons to ascertain whether the decision is justifiable, transparent and intelligible. Writing reasons, however, is an art that requires skill—especially in the regulatory context. This course examines the process for writing regulatory reasons and, through practical assignments, helps participants develop relevant skills.

Scenarios will be taken from the complaints and discipline contexts, with some discussion of the registration context as well. The skills developed will be transferrable to other contexts (e.g., quality assurance and administrative suspensions).

This course will require approximately two—three hours of your time each week, though it may vary from week to week and depending on your work pace. Weeks 4 and 5 may be particularly demanding.

Course Objectives

By the end of this course, the participants should be able to:

1. Develop a process for deliberations and decision making that fosters the writing of defensible reasons.
2. Apply the IDEEA principle to craft reasons that correctly identify the Issues, set out clear decisions, provide explanations for decisions, give examples to illustrate the explanations, and addresses the arguments that will be made by the losing sides.
3. Recognize gaps in reasons that courts will scrutinize and successfully address those gaps.

Competency Alignment

Results Driven, Written Communication, Accountability, Leading Change, Strategic Thinking, Leading People, Conflict Management

Course Information

Instructor(s): Richard Steinecke, BA, LLB
Course Dates: In progress
Delivery Method: Blended
Cost: $50 | Free for Members
Pathway: Public Policy & Legislation
Program Credit: 1
CEs: 24.0