The legislative initiative is a crucial stage of law-making since it signifies the start of legislation development. At the legislative process’s outset, the citizens’ initiative is pivotal, granting individuals the chance to participate. NSAs’ active involvement in law-making helps governments make informed decisions and uphold democratic values. While countries may differ in approaches or techniques, nations utilize the citizens’ initiative as a means of engaging with constituents directly in law-making. This model of the citizens’ initiative is extensively adopted in most European countries and European Union levels in addition to a few in Africa. In Ethiopia, citizens’ right to participate in the decision-making process is guaranteed by constitutional principles, but there is no clear law regulating its implementation in the initiation and pre-initiation process. Existing domestic research on the topic is limited and mainly focuses on general concepts of public participation in other stages of the law-making process. To fill this gap, this study aims to analyze the legal and practical settings for NSAs’ involvement in initiating legislation in Ethiopia, with a particular focus on professional associations of Lawyers. These associations, in addition to protecting the rights and interests of their members, are expected to contribute to the community and the legal system. The research utilizes a qualitative approach and purposive sampling method for collecting data from selected experts from both state and NSAs, to triangulate the case from different perspectives and appraise both legal and practical situations of legislative initiations by NSAs. It also aims to identify potential challenges and suggest possible approaches for legal intervention to benefit both state and NSAs. The study began by pointing out the absence of a defined legal framework outlining the role of NSAs in the legislative initiation process of the federal lawmaking system. It then brings attention to the fact that, although the law on the law-making process restricts direct initiation of legislation by NSAs, it offers alternative mechanisms to participate indirectly; as well as recent proclamations created room for NSAs' participation in legislative initiation. Nonetheless, there still exist discrepancies that need to be addressed in the legislation too. And the definition of initiating legislation in the law is narrow which only includes the right to present final draft legislation to the enacting body. This definition, however, falls short in promoting citizen democratic participation since it disregards other methods of involvement, which leads to a gap in practice, where other indirect forms of participation in initiating legislation are not fully understood or utilized both by the state and NSAs. Recommendations include expanding the definition of legislation initiation in the law-making process, amending legal provisions to align with constitutional principles, establishing a legal framework for sustained NSA participation, encouraging proactive involvement of professional associations, and conducting further research on regional laws and other forms of CSO engagement on the initiation of legislation stage of law-making. Generally, there is a need to explore other avenues for NSAs to partake in the legislative process and use any possible legal opportunities and lead-ins. Ultimately it should be noted that citizens should not have to resort to finding loopholes and gaps to exercise their constitutional right to express their sovereignty through direct or indirect democracy.