MCKENZIE NOUN (PEOPLE AND SOCIETY)

In the UK, a person who attends a court of law to help and advise one of the parties to the case. Often used attributively, especially in McKenzie friend or McKenzie man. Etymology: Named after the case of McKenzie v. McKenzie (1970), in which the precedent was set for a non-professional helper to be allowed in court. History and Usage: According to the Law Reports on the case of McKenzie v. McKenzie, Any person, whether he be a professional man or not, may attend a trial as a friend of either party, may take notes, and may quietly make suggestions and give advice to that party. During the seventies these people were generally called McKenzies or McKenzie men in legal journals and the like, but the term had little currency outside legal sources. In the early eighties greater use was made of the precedent by people who wanted to do without legal representation or who could not afford it, and the terms started to appear in the newspapers; by the end of the decade the preferred form in this more popular usage was clearly McKenzie friend. Mr Dave Nellist, MP for Coventry South-East, said he intended to appear before Coventry magistrates as a 'McKenzie friend'. Daily Telegraph 24 July 1990, p. 2