民主政治的舞台在國會，國會舞台主角是立法委員，然而國會舞台中另一不可缺少的配角立法助理，則扮演十分重要的角色。立法委員因外務繁多，本身事業素養有限，更由於近代政府功能的擴大，行政部門為了應付日新月異的事務，不斷地擴充職權，同時延攬大批專業人才加入，相形之下，由人民定期選出的立法部門在缺乏專業性之下，面臨越來越紛歧與複雜的法案時，若沒有分析及評估能力而照單全收的話，則必然會造成行政權擴大而立法權日漸萎縮。此現象有違相互制衛之法理，自有必要擴大立法部門的分析能力，故本文擬就英、美兩國立法助理制度的介紹，希望對我國立法助理制度之現況及未來發展有一策略性思考方向。

Congress is democracy at work. The leading role in congress is played by the legislators but they can't function without a supporting actor, assistant legislator, who plays a very important role in the democratic functioning of congress. Legislators are busy with many different kinds of work they are not obliged to handle, and the legislator's specialty is limited. Furthermore, the functions of modern government in handling daily renew affairs continue to expand. The administrative authority is constantly enlarged notably in the recruitment of talented men for service. By contrast, the legislator who has been elected temporarily by his constituents lacks of specialized knowledge when confornting an increasing amount of diverse and complex bills. If the capacity for analysis and evaluation, then the Legislative Yuan must accept all the proposals of the Executive Yuan, thus the Executive authority will expand to such an extent that the legislative authority will gradually atrophy. This phenomenon contradicts the legal principle of mutual balbance. So there is need to enlarge the capacity for analysis of the Legislstive Yuan. I hope that the institution of the assistant legislator as it exists in the U K and U5A can also be established in the ROC.