Civil Costs(3rd Edn)
Peter Hurst
Sweet & Maxwell
£156
It would be hard to imagine a guide to civil costs written by a more knowledgeable author than the senior costs judge, Peter Hurst, and this third edition of his guide to civil costs is a thorough and authoritative survey of the subject that would be a worthy addition to the library of anyone involved in the assessment of legal costs.
The book is organised into nine sections dealing with all areas of civil costs, from the basic principles of entitlement to the practical details of how costs are usually assessed. There are particularly helpful analyses of major issues such as proportionality, conduct, costs against non-parties and wasted costs orders, as well as a thorough examination of the basis underpinning all civil costs, the indemnity principle.
This new edition also includes a new section dealing with costs in the House of Lords, and the section dealing with Part 36 offers has been extensively rewritten to encompass recent case law. All of these elements are well explained in a clear style with extensive reference to case law and the relevant sections of the Civil Procedure Rules.
The book also reproduces a number of the primary and secondary sources on civil costs, including CPR Parts 43-48, the costs practice direction, the various CFA regulations and the helpful SCCO Guide to the Summary assessment of Costs. While all of these sources are available elsewhere, it is helpful to have them collected in a single location for reference purposes.
In summary, this is a valuable addition to the canon of books on legal costs. It does not have the depth of analysis of Cook on Costs (2005 edition), and it suffers the inevitable problem that certain areas have already developed since the book was written (for example, the guideline hourly rates provided are the 2003 rates, whereas the 2005 rates have now been published). However, for a practitioner requiring a one-volume work that encompasses the rules together with a clear and authoritative commentary, this book fits the bill admirably.
Paul Jones
Legal Costs negotiators Ltd