Report comment

There is no doubt that there is a market for lower qualified or unqualified representation in a court environment. Consumers are beginning to lose the unquestioning respect that once existed for those with the title of 'lawyer' as the mystery behind the routes to qualifications and working practices becomes more transparent.

The role of professional Mckenzie Friend may even begin to play a role in those routes to qualification. As training contracts become ever increasingly more competetive and previous 'on the job' experience more necessary in obtaining a TC or gaining CILEX qualification, will previous experience as a McKenzie Friend become a de facto requirement for further advancement in the legal profession. What recognition will such work receive from regulators and employers alike?

At one point does a registered and very competent and succesful McKenzie Friend become a 'lawyer' in the eys of the consumers, with or without professional qualifications or regulatory recognition.

This could represent the full development of yet another tier of the legal profession and all of the legal regulators, especially the LSB, should be alive to the issue of McKenzie Friends becoming 'lawyers' through the back door.