What is a McKenzie Friend?
A McKenzie Friend is a lay person who accompanies and supports a litigant in person at a court hearing. The term derives from the 1970 Court of Appeal case McKenzie v McKenzie, in which the court established the right of an unrepresented party to have a friend present for moral support, to take notes, and to quietly offer advice.
Since the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2013 (LASPO) removed legal aid from the majority of civil and family matters, the role of the McKenzie Friend has grown substantially. Today, approximately 80% of private family law cases involve at least one litigant in person, and many of those individuals rely on a McKenzie Friend — paid or unpaid — to navigate proceedings they could not otherwise afford to contest with qualified legal representation.
The Legal Framework for Charging Fees
McKenzie Friends are not regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) or any other statutory body. This means there is no prescribed fee scale, no mandatory insurance requirement, and no formal qualification threshold. However, the absence of regulation does not mean the absence of accountability: courts retain the power to refuse a McKenzie Friend access to proceedings if they consider their conduct inappropriate, and the Legal Services Act 2007 restricts the provision of certain "reserved legal activities" (such as conducting litigation and exercising rights of audience) to authorised persons.
In practice, this means a McKenzie Friend can lawfully charge for:
- Attending hearings in a support capacity
- Reviewing documents and correspondence
- Helping to draft statements and position papers (though not as an authorised litigator)
- Providing general guidance and emotional support
What Does the Market Say?
Drawing on Law Society guideline hourly rates, recruitment market data, and published charge-out rates from paralegal service providers, the following benchmarks apply in 2026:
| Experience Level | Typical Hourly Rate | Equivalent Annual Value |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 3–5 years | £25–£40/hour | £46,800–£74,880 |
| 5–8 years | £35–£55/hour | £65,520–£102,960 |
| 8–12 years | £45–£70/hour | £84,240–£131,040 |
| 12+ years | £55–£90/hour | £102,960–£168,480 |
These figures apply to work conducted outside London. A London weighting of approximately 35% is appropriate for hearings in the capital.
The Overhead Adjustment: Why Direct Engagement Pays More
When a solicitor charges £200/hour, only approximately one-third of that reaches them as salary. The remaining two-thirds covers the law firm's overheads (rent, insurance, support staff, technology) and the firm's profit margin. This is the "Rule of Thirds" — a well-established framework in legal practice management.
When a McKenzie Friend works directly with a client, those overheads do not exist. There is no office to maintain, no professional indemnity insurance at law-firm scale, and no profit margin to be extracted by a third party. This means a fair direct-engagement rate should reflect the value being delivered, not the artificially suppressed rate that results from comparing yourself to an employed solicitor's salary.
A McKenzie Friend with 8–12 years of experience, working directly with a client in a family law matter, can reasonably justify a rate of £45–£70 per hour — a figure that still represents a substantial saving for the client compared to instructing a qualified solicitor at £150–£250/hour.
How to Calculate Your Specific Rate
The most defensible approach is to use a structured calculator that takes into account your practice area, experience level, location, and the overhead/profit adjustment. Our UK Legal Professional Rate Calculator{:target="_self"} does exactly this, producing a personalised rate breakdown with the reasoning behind each figure — designed to be shared with the other party as a discussion document.
Conclusion
There is no single "correct" rate for a McKenzie Friend in 2026. The appropriate figure depends on your experience, the complexity of the matter, the geographic location of the proceedings, and the financial circumstances of the client. What matters is that the rate is arrived at transparently, grounded in market data, and agreed in writing before the engagement begins. A well-reasoned rate, clearly explained, is far easier to defend — and far less likely to cause resentment — than an arbitrary figure plucked from the air.
Calculate your personalised fair rate
Use our interactive calculator to get a data-backed rate breakdown in under 2 minutes — with the reasoning you can share with the other party.