Amanda Walker
23 years experience. Qualified IDVA Independent Domestic Abuse Advisor, Over 23 years of working within Family Courts, Safeguarding, Professional McKenzie Friend by McKenzie Friend UK Network.
My name is Amanda, found out of Family Court McKenzie Friend - Kent & London. I’m a trained professional McKenzie Friend by McKenzie Friend UK Network, we have over 23 years experience working in domestic abuse and Family Courts. Alongside my McKenzie Friend role im a qualified Independent Domestic Violence Advisor and I’ve worked at Victim Support, Local charities, CEO, Kent County Council within the Family Drug and Alcohol Court and co develop the Phoenix program now delivered throughout Kent. I set up Family Court McKenzie Friend- Kent & London to provide clear, compassionate, and practical support at an affordable price. I’m always upfront about my costs, so you know exactly where you stand and offer flexible appointments including evenings weekends to fit around your work and family life.
About Amanda
My name is Amanda, found out of Family Court McKenzie Friend - Kent & London. I’m a trained professional McKenzie Friend by McKenzie Friend UK Network, we have over 23 years experience working in domestic abuse and Family Courts. Alongside my McKenzie Friend role im a qualified Independent Domestic Violence Advisor and I’ve worked at Victim Support, Local charities, CEO, Kent County Council within the Family Drug and Alcohol Court and co develop the Phoenix program now delivered throughout Kent. I set up Family Court McKenzie Friend- Kent & London to provide clear, compassionate, and practical support at an affordable price. I’m always upfront about my costs, so you know exactly where you stand and offer flexible appointments including evenings weekends to fit around your work and family life.
Qualifications: My training includes safeguarding, DASH risk assessment, health and social care, criminology, domestic abuse, equality and diversity, human rights, GDRP, effective communication with children and families, to name a few.
How Amanda Can Help
- Court accompaniment
- Note-taking in court
- Procedural guidance
- Case preparation
- Evidence organisation
- Emotional support
Amanda's achievements
CEO, New Leaf Domestic Abuse Service
Amanda leads New Leaf Domestic Abuse Service, a domestic abuse support service based in Sittingbourne, Kent, drawing on more than two decades of work supporting victim survivors.
What Amanda is up to
Latest activity and updates from Amanda Walker.
No recent updates yet — check back soon to see what Amanda is working on.
Amanda's Website
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Listed on Bridge The Gap
Amanda Walker has chosen to list on Bridge The Gap and can be contacted directly using the details above. McKenzie Friends are not regulated, vetted, or endorsed by us. The profession is unregulated — please read their profile carefully, ask questions, and make your own judgement.
No endorsement. Inclusion of a McKenzie Friend or business on Bridge The Gap is not an endorsement, recommendation or verification of that person, their services or their qualifications. Nobody is ranked or evaluated here. Explore, ask questions and make your own decisions by dealing directly with each person you choose to contact.
Choosing your McKenzie Friend
The court does not expect a McKenzie Friend to be regulated, registered or insured. What the court looks at is how the McKenzie Friend works within the official guidance, set out in Guidance from the President’s Office: McKenzie Friends and the Practice Guidance: McKenzie Friends (Civil and Family Courts), both published on the Judiciary website. Every McKenzie Friend listed here respects that guidance. They are your partners in your journey, but you remain the party to your case and you are the one who answers to the court.
Under the Family Procedure Rules, the parties are required to help the court further the overriding objective (rule 1.3). A statement of truth on your statement of case or application notice must be signed by you, or by your litigation friend or legal representative (Practice Direction 17A, para 3.1), and a witness statement is signed by the person who made it (rule 17.2). Proceedings for contempt of court may be brought against anyone who makes, or causes to be made, a false statement in a verified document (Practice Direction 17A, para 2.1 and rule 17.6). In financial remedy cases, the duty of full and honest disclosure is the party’s own duty under the Pre-Application Protocol annexed to Practice Direction 9A.
A McKenzie Friend may help with your case papers and give advice on law and procedure, so you can also ask what insurance they hold, what it covers and how they protect your documents and personal information. It is your responsibility to read their reviews and ask questions to check they are a good fit for you.
Danger signs to look out for:
- They say they will act for you, manage your case or sign court documents. The guidance says a McKenzie Friend has no right to act on behalf of a litigant in person and may not act as your agent.
- They say they will speak for you at the hearing or question witnesses as a matter of course. A McKenzie Friend is not entitled to address the court or examine witnesses. A right of audience is granted only in exceptional circumstances, and you must apply at the outset of the hearing.
- They want to make the decisions in your case. The court can refuse or curtail assistance where the McKenzie Friend is using the litigant as a puppet or is directly or indirectly conducting the litigation.
- They tell you the other side will pay their fees. Fees agreed with you for reasonable assistance are lawful but cannot be recovered from the opposing party.
- They are subject to a civil proceedings order or a civil restraint order, or cannot show they understand the duty of confidentiality.
- They cannot tell you how they will look after your documents and personal information. The court does not ask for this, but data protection law applies to them separately. Sole traders and organisations that use personal information must pay the ICO data protection fee unless exempt, and the ICO publishes a register of fee payers.
There is no substitute for legal advice. A McKenzie Friend supports you in your case, but is not a solicitor or barrister and does not take the place of one. A McKenzie Friend cannot act as your representative, speak for you in court or conduct your litigation unless the court has granted that right. Advice on how the law applies to your own circumstances, and on the consequences of the decisions you make, should come from a regulated legal professional. That matters most before you agree to anything, sign anything or make a decision that affects your finances, your children or your home. Using a McKenzie Friend does not remove your own responsibility to the court, and it is not a reason to go without legal advice where you can get it.
Sources:
- Guidance from the President’s Office: McKenzie Friends
- Practice Guidance: McKenzie Friends (Civil and Family Courts), July 2010, paras 4, 10, 13, 27 to 29
- McKenzie Friends, Courts and Tribunals Judiciary
- Family Procedure Rules, Part 1, rule 1.3
- Family Procedure Rules, Part 17, rules 17.2 and 17.6
- Practice Direction 17A, Statements of Truth, paras 2.1, 3.1 and 6
- Practice Direction 9A, Pre-Application Protocol, paras 3 and 32 to 34
- ICO: Data protection fee
Before you share anything or pay anything
Hold off on sending confidential documents or paying any fees until there is a written agreement setting out what is being done, what it costs and how it ends — and until you know exactly who you are dealing with.
Ask what they have actually done before and in which courts, whether you can speak to someone they have helped, and for their full name, business details and fee in writing.
McKenzie Friends are not regulated. No qualification, licence or insurance is required to use the title, and being listed here is not a check on anyone's credentials or conduct.