Sahore v Ahmad

In the matter of *Sahore v Ahmad*, the applicant, Mr Ahmad, sought leave for Ms Judith Keys to act as his McKenzie friend in proceedings before Chief Justice McCallum of the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory. The respondent, Mr Sahore, opposed this application.

The central legal issue before the Court was whether to grant leave for Ms Keys to act as a McKenzie friend for Mr Ahmad, considering her status as an unaccredited and uninsured advocate, her prior involvement in the proceedings at first instance, and her alleged contribution to delays and adverse costs orders against Mr Ahmad. The Court also considered an application to issue a subpoena to the ACT Bar Association.

Chief Justice McCallum refused leave for Ms Keys to appear as a McKenzie friend, finding it undesirable to grant such leave to an unaccredited and uninsured advocate, particularly given her position of conflict arising from her involvement in the proceedings at the trial level. Her Honour also noted that Ms Keys had contributed to delays and exposed Mr Ahmad to adverse costs orders. The application for a subpoena to the ACT Bar Association was also dismissed. The remaining applications were stood over for further hearing.