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Anyone setting out their stall to represent someone else in court should be expected to be competent and truthful , to their client and the court. That's why there are such strict rules for solicitors and counsel. How else can the public have confidence in advocates? Like it or not Mckenzie friends are claiming to have the required skills to do the jobs which solicitors and counsel used to do when there was legal aid. Now it has almost entirely gone there is a gap in the market. Advocates are needed to help those who can't express themselves or prepare a case. McKenzie friends COULD fulfil that role but that is no argument for an absence of standards or having no public protection. They only appear with the approval of the judge. That should remain as he or she can curtail it whenever needed, but if paid then surely the public, in their ignorance of what is expected of an advocate,is entitled to a strict regulatory regime