What Is a McKenzie Friend
A McKenzie Friend is a person who accompanies a litigant in person to court to provide assistance. The name comes from a 1970 Court of Appeal case. A McKenzie Friend can sit beside you, take notes, help you with documents, and provide quiet assistance during the hearing. They cannot speak to the court on your behalf without the court's permission.
What a McKenzie Friend Can Do
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What Do I Do Next? -- FreeA McKenzie Friend can: sit beside you during the hearing, take notes of what is said, help you find documents in the bundle, remind you of questions to ask, provide quiet moral support, and outside the hearing help you prepare your case, understand documents, and draft statements and correspondence.
What a McKenzie Friend Cannot Do
A McKenzie Friend cannot address the court on your behalf unless the court grants permission (a right of audience). They cannot conduct litigation on your behalf in the sense of formally managing the case. They have no professional regulatory oversight and no professional indemnity insurance in the way a solicitor does.
The Right of Audience
In some cases the court grants a McKenzie Friend the right of audience -- permission to speak to the court on the litigant's behalf. This is a discretionary decision made by the judge. Courts are more willing to grant it in cases where the litigant has a genuine difficulty presenting their own case.
Finding a McKenzie Friend
EqualJustice provides McKenzie Friend support across family law, employment tribunal, and civil courts. The service is led by Eugene Pienaar, a non-practising solicitor, which provides a higher level of expertise than most McKenzie Friend services. Visit equaljustice.legal for details.