Abstract: The article focuses on the issues of legal and organizational regulation of the work of local representative bodies. The research object is the issues of the work of local representative bodies of the Russian Federation. The author analyzes the main functions of representative bodies, the approaches to the duties of their officials, and the main organizational principles. Based on the analysis of scientific works on the issue, the author detects the main drawbacks in the legal regulation of local representative bodies’ activities. Besides, the author carries out theoretical and legal analysis of the “local representative body” definition. The author applies general philosophical and theoretical methods (analysis, synthesis, the system method, analogy, induction, and modeling) and traditional methods of jurisprudence (formal logical). The author concludes that the federal legislation, regulating the work of local representative bodies, needs further improvement. The author reveals the necessity to regulate the operating principles of representative bodies on the federal level. The scientific novelty of the study consists in the proposals about further improvement of the legislation in relation to the provision of unified approaches to the main principles of local representative bodies’ work; particularly, the author offers the definition of the “local representative body” concept and the model principles of its work.