McKenzie Friend or junior barrister?

The Bar has hit out at Legal Services Board (LSB) backing for McKenzie Friends (non-qualified assistants to litigants in court).

The courts have discretion under the Legal Services Act 2007 to allow McKenzie Friends to help litigants in person. They are receiving an increasing number of applications.

Responding this week to a Judicial Executive Board consultation, Reforming the courts’ approach to McKenzie Friends, the LSB said any restriction to consumer choice should be “based on evidence of detriment” and that an outright ban was not necessary.

However, Chantal-Aimée Doerries QC, Chairman of the Bar, said: “The solution to government legal aid cuts, is not to allow untrained, unregulated, and uninsured McKenzie Friends to undertake reserved legal activities, such as rights of audience before the courts, and to charge for these services. 

“Some paid McKenzie Friends charge as much as £125 an hour. Many members of the junior Bar, for example, will charge around £90 an hour, and all have completed a minimum of five year’s study, including 120 hours of advocacy training and a year of working under close supervision of a senior colleague, as well as being insured and regulated.

“Those who instruct a paid McKenzie friend would be better off employing a junior barrister or solicitor. This is often more cost effective and will always represent better value for money.”