This is a balanced study, and I suspect not the conclusions that the Bar Council wanted to hear. http://www.barcouncil.org.uk/media/573023/a_study_of_fee-charging_mckenzie_friends.pdf    

The available evidence indicates that the proportion of litigants appearing before the civil and family courts without legal representation (litigants in person, also sometimes called self-represented litigants) has increased since the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 took many civil and private law children and family cases out of scope for legal […]

As a person who works with parents going through divorce, the tough part is seeing how a parent’s anger and need for vengeance takes precedence over her children’s wellbeing or his child’s welfare. There will never, ever be a time in a child’s life where it will be ok to put them in situations where mental anguish […]

A report published today (2/6/2015) by the Universities of Reading and Warwick and funded by the NuffieldFoundation, reports that there is no indication of gender bias in contested cases in County Courts. Families Need Fathers acted in an advisory capacity on this project, as it does in many research reports relating to family law and policy in […]

Courtroom abuse sparks new McKenzie friend fears 1 June 2015By Chloe Smith An imminent consultation by the judiciary on the proliferation of paid McKenzie friends in court is ringing alarm bells among lawyers, after a former nightclub bouncer was banned from providing such a service for grossly offensive behaviour. Latest Bar Council minutes highlight fears […]