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| We
provide access to independent McKenzie Friends across the
UK. We will advise
you on what you need to know, not what you want to hear.
We will help reduce and
manage conflict and acrimony.
We aim to bring
transparency and openness to the Family Court Justice
System.
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| We follow the
principles as set out by our national campaign #lightnothate |
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| www.lightnothate.co.uk |
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| Under our referral terms: |
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| The listed McKenzie Friends are
entirely independent and operate under their own terms
and conditions. |
| Members are not employed or
affiliated to us. They are listed as 'trusted' McKenzie
Friends for |
| client referrals. They are
entirely responsible for ther own service. |
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| A small number of McKenzie
Friends may have a law background. However, the vast
majority |
| are not legally trained or
qualified. |
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| Our member McKenzie Friends, do
not provide 'legal advice' and do not operate as |
| 'legal advisors'. |
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| Our member McKenzie Friends
operate as 'lay people' and provide support as an
'informed friend'. |
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| We invite you to read the
profiles of all our McKenzie Friends before accepting
their service. |
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| Our McKenzie Friends agree to
comply with the guidance of the Family Law Division July
2010. |
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Are
we similar to lawyers? |
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| Absolutely not! We
do not in anyway compare ourselves to lawyers. |
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| Our member McKenzie Friends are
not legal entities and do not provide a legal service. |
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| Our members provide a service
based on the position and understanding that tens of
thousands of people, |
| every year, go through the court
system without any legal representation without being at
any disadvantage |
| If a person was disadvantaged by
not having a paid lawyer then we would have a two tiered,
broken |
| and unfair system favouring
those who can afford lawyers. This is simply not the
case. |
| The entire system is founded on
the principle of access to justice where any person |
| can self litigate without a
lawyer, and without any knowledge of law, without being
disadvantaged with |
| respect to the outcome. |
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| It is based on this
understanding that our affiliates support people through
the court system, as laypeople, |
| as a non-legal service, saving
people tens of thousands of pounds on legal fees. |
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| One of
the most empowering aspects of being a McKenzie Friend is
to have an independent insight into the Family Law system
and to scrutinise the practices within in. My conclusion
is that all is not well. Any expectation that a person going
through the traumatic life event of separation should
routinely pay upwards of £15,000 for legal
representation to gain access to children, to resolve
child arrangements or seek financial resolution, often
with the most straight forward of applications is simply
wrong and unjustified.
At a fraction of the
cost, a McKenzie Friend can support you through a system
based on practical and straight forward procedures and to
help you build a case that reduces conflict and focuses
on the defined determining factors and principles that
are based on common sense checklists rather than complex
legal precedents.
The closed and self
serving system that has for decades perpetuated a myth
that 'Family Law Needs Lawyers' is now being exposed as
more and more Litigants in Person empower themselves to
take their own cases forward. The genie is finally out of
the bottle and it isn't going back in anytime soon.
Whilst many
professionals may have eagerly financially prospered off
the back of their client's drawn out emotional conflicts,
for any Litigant in Person, the way forward is to be the
first to effectively manage and reduce conflict and to
seek a reasonable resolution from the outset.
From my extensive
practice and experience, I would without hesitation
recommend that seeking a free consultation with an
experienced McKenzie Friend Lay Person, who mentors in
conflict management, should be your very first step to
take.'
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