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Mr Cockshutt

License and regulate McKenzie Friends and you have untrained lawyers. The standard of care will be that of an ordinarily competent solicitor acting in that field. Then they will charge unless they are so wealthy as to act altruistically and without a need to earn to cover regulatory and PII overheads that come as part of the deal.

Then you find that the rate creeps up and up. You will find that I and other solicitors dealing with professional negligence will start to see more and more claims against them.

But regardless of all that, if you want to be a McKenzie friend and help people, good for you. I truly mean that especially if you have the knowledge to be able to help. Just don't charge for it.

And look at the examples quoted. A £12k debt recovery case against the McF. £6k to write a book. But they balk at paying a solicitor to help them - #facepalm.

What is it about solicitors that make people NOT want to pay for a service. Your boiler breaks, you pay to get it fixed. Car breaks down, you pay a garage to fix it. Need to sell your house, you pay a monster commission for bugger all work. Need something critical done right so you can get on with life - nah, get some bloke to bodge it for you and save some cash.

Solicitors can do work inexpensively and they can provide an unbundled service (sucks teeth at the thought), folks just need to find the right one.