Ms Caroline Counihan:

I was going to row in behind something Mr. Walsh said earlier, to the effect that if a judge is faced with a request to allow a McKenzie friend in a family law case, he or she has to think very carefully about the rights of the other person. I can easily envisage a situation where the other person might be unrepresented or might be particularly vulnerable and might find this quite intimidating, especially if the McKenzie friend seems to be dominating the proceedings by taking an inordinately long time to whisper instructions, advice or such in the other person's ear. One wonders about equality of arms and such. A McKenzie friend in a family law setting is a tricky situation. I would be happier with everybody being represented by a competent lawyer who, after all, has professional responsibilities not just to the client but to the court and his or her own professional body. If a lawyer misbehaves, there are sanctions. With great respect to McKenzie friends, since I am sure many are very responsible, good people, I would rather know that anybody there who is representing or assisting somebody in court has some training and some professional structure.