McKenzie friend

A McKenzie friend is a person, not necessarily a lawyer or legally trained, who accompanies and assists someone representing themselves in court by taking notes, prompting them and quietly offering advice, without addressing the court or conducting the litigation themselves unless the court specifically grants that right. The role takes its name from the 1970 English case McKenzie v McKenzie, in which Levine McKenzie lost contact with his legal team after his legal aid was withdrawn shortly before his divorce trial; an Australian barrister, Ian Hanger, agreed to sit with him and give quiet assistance from the courtroom gallery, but the trial judge restricted Hanger's role to advice given only during breaks. McKenzie lost the case and appealed, and the Court of Appeal held that the judge's restriction had wrongly deprived him of assistance he was entitled to, ordering a new trial and establishing the right in English law. McKenzie friends are most commonly used in family law proceedings such as divorce and child arrangement disputes, helping litigants who cannot obtain legal aid or afford a solicitor.