News In Focus
25 February 2010
Campaigner says legal system is “in dark ages”
Legal reform campaigner Stewart Mackenzie has accused Lord Hamilton, Scotland’s top judge, of putting the legal system "back into the dark ages" as a row grows over the use of "McKenzie friends" in civil court cases.
Mr Mackenzie has lodged a petition in the Scottish Parliament calling for the introduction of the McKenzie friends system, which allows people representing themselves in civil court actions to nominate a lay helper to help them take notes, organise papers or prompt them with questions for witnesses.
The system, named after a litigant in an English divorce case, is widely operated in courts in England, Canada and New Zealand.
Mr Mackenzie says Lord Hamilton is obstructing legal reform by placing unreasonable conditions on the system’s use in Scotland's courts.
Under changes to come before the Court of Session Rules Council on 10 May, McKenzie friends will be forced to sign a certificate outlining their "relevant experience" in court as well as declaring whether they are related to the party litigant.
Mr Mackenzie told The Scotsman: "There are a couple of serious issues that mean Lord Hamilton is going to put us back into the dark ages with what he proposes.
"A McKenzie friend could be your brother, your sister, your granny, it could be a pal who is a plumber. None of them have relevant experience, so goodness knows where this comes from."
He also objects to the proposal that a McKenzie friend must state whether he or she is related to the litigant. "Relationship to the litigant has got nothing to do with it."