McKenzie Friends: as good as lawyers?

A caution over unqualified legal advice, by Rebecca Ranson, a solicitor at Maguire Family Law.

Last week, The Law Society Gazette published an article regarding a former police chief inspector who has taken on the task of convincing people across the UK to “self-litigate” and use McKenzie Friends rather than lawyers to conduct their family law proceedings.

Philip Kedge will be launching his ‘Blue Light McKenzie Friends’ website at the end of the month. It is reported that he has recruited around 100 former police officers who will ‘help’ litigants in person to navigate their way through the court process.

Concerningly, Mr Kedge has also been reported as stating that ‘you don’t need lawyers in a family court’ and ‘the legal system in family law is no more than human disagreement – there are no legal questions’. Clearly, almost every family lawyer in the country would disagree with this.

Read the full article here.