McKenzie Friends – Bar Council speaks out

The Chairman of the Bar Council, Chantal-Aimee Doerries QC, told BBC listeners this week that the protection of consumers was “paramount” in relation to McKenzie Friends.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s programme ‘You and Yours’ which discusses consumer rights in question, Doerries stated that because McKenzie Friends are unregulated as a profession, it was difficult to assess the idea of them beginning to charge for their services.

Traditionally, McKenzie Friends have offered their services for free, providing voluntary moral support to people in court following the original case of an Australian solicitor providing free advice to a client despite not being legally entitled to represent them in the UK.

Doerries stated: "Many McKenzie Friends provide support to people in court on a voluntary basis. The problems start when they offer additional services, such as legal advice and even advocacy, for which they are unregulated and lack training or insurance.

“It means the people who use them have no recourse to complain should something go wrong, nor are they protected by insurance, which all solicitors and barristers must have in order to practice.”

During the programme, Ray Barry, who is the chairman of Professional McKenzie Friends, admitted that there is no real regulation for McKenzie Friends, which could end up being a problem.

In response, Doerries stated that: "Anyone who uses a barrister is using a regulated, qualified and insured professional and can bring a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman or the regulator should they need to. That option is not available to those who use unregulated McKenzie Friends." 

There have been numerous occurrences of McKenzie Friends hitting the headlines recently for all the wrong reasons. One was imprisoned for three years after committing multiple offences in his services to a client, whilst another has been banned from legal services indefinitely after his behavior towards an opponent.

The Chairman said that she felt consumers were better off sticking within licensed members of the professions, claiming: "there is enough variety already in the legal services market amongst barristers and solicitors for consumers to find an affordable option." 

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