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PI Brief Update

"Professional" McKenzie Friends: LSB Reaction to Consumer Panel's Recommendations - Thomas Crockett, 1 Chancery Lane

07/09/14. Those of us who are professional advocates reacted largely with horror when the Legal Service Consumer Panel called in April of this year for a “culture shift” in favour of recognising the rise in and increasing use of paid McKenzie Friends in our courts by extending regulation to them. Quite why this quango exists in the first place may well be a mystery to some (as it is to the writer) but surely for them to have spent clearly much time and (of course, public) money coming to such a conclusion may well lead to some (yes, including the writer) to question its utility. The recognition of a role for paid McKenzie friends and such a “culture shift” (whatever that could possibly mean) would put such individuals on a par in the eyes of many court users with professional lawyers.

The reality in the eyes of many of those appearing before the civil courts on a daily basis (yes, you have guessed it – including the writer) is that such “professional” McKenzie friends are a complete hindrance to the just and efficient disposal of a case. Judges in certainly the County Court are well used to...

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All information on this site was believed to be correct by the relevant authors at the time of writing. All content is for information purposes only and is not intended as legal advice. No liability is accepted by either the publisher or the author(s) for any errors or omissions (whether negligent or not) that it may contain. 

The opinions expressed in the articles are the authors' own, not those of Law Brief Publishing Ltd, and are not necessarily commensurate with general legal or medico-legal expert consensus of opinion and/or literature. Any medical content is not exhaustive but at a level for the non-medical reader to understand. 

Professional advice should always be obtained before applying any information to particular circumstances.

Excerpts from judgments and statutes are Crown copyright. Any Crown Copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of OPSI and the Queen’s Printer for Scotland under the Open Government Licence.