Exceptional High Court Case Grants McKenzie Friend Rights of Audience

In Legal Futures (27 June 2024), the High Court granted a McKenzie Friend the right of audience in an exceptional case involving a defendant in potentially contempt proceedings, where the defendant’s health and severity of risk justified speaking rights. The case involved Edward Wojakovski and Michael Marx; the defendant faced an order potentially leading to imprisonment. Legal Futures

This decision reinforces the Practice Guidance: McKenzie Friends (Civil & Family Courts) [2010], which provides that lay persons assisting litigants generally have roles in giving advice, taking notes, moral support and helping with case papers — but granting actual speaking rights (rights of audience) is rare and must be justified by exceptional circumstances. Legal Futures+1