Civil Costs: Law and Practice – Second Edition – Latest news

Word reaches me that the second edition of Mark Friston’s Civil Costs: Law and Practice has been finalised and is now being proofed and indexed for publication shortly.

For complicated reasons that I won’t trouble you with it appears Amazon’s algorithms are currently listing this for pre-order at a ridiculously discounted price. At the time of writing this was £64.60. Consider how this compares to the price of the nearest “rival” publication. The price is not going to stay this low and at Gibbs Wyatt Stone we’ve already ordered multiple copies.

Don’t come crying to me if you hold off now and then have to pay a higher price.


7 thoughts on “Civil Costs: Law and Practice – Second Edition – Latest news

  1. Yes, and sadly for Cook on Costs, it’s far better.

    Cook on Costs suffers from piecemeal updates when it really needs a full revision.

    Friston’s Civil Costs ‘may’ eventually go that way. But as it stands, it’s current, easy to navigate and more complete.

  2. Having used both I find that Mr Friston’s is far, far better than Cook. Better content and clearer layout imo

    Also wasn’t there a comment somehwere on here recently that District Judges tend to have Friston rather than Cook?

  3. The Friston Book is far better as a reference work.

    Highly practical with very good acadaemic content and easy reference.

    Cook has rested on his laurels far too long.

    Friston is on the shelf of every Costs Master in the SCCO that I have been before

    I swear by it

    Kevyn Thompson
    Longmynd Legal Services

  4. I would also like to endorse Mark Friston’s book – which, it is also fair to say, is a work to which other members of his chambers have made extremely valuable contributions. It is difficult for a “serving” practitioner or judge to write an attention grabbing book, becuase of the natural reluctance to express opinions on issues one may one day need to argue or decide. This is, I think, the objection to Master Hurst’s otherwise excellent work: for obvious reasons, in any case where the law is not clear, he feels unable to say “this appears to me to be the answer, for the following reasons…” Despite this impediment, Mark’s book avoids being anodyne, and is also extremely thorough. As a research tool it is invaluable, as it has an excellent index and comprehensive footnotes. Given the very fair price as well, it is clearly now the leading work on costs, and certainly if you only get one book, this should be it.

    I hope readers of this blog still use my chambers’ “costs cases online” resource as well – http://www.39essex.com. We recognise we had allowed that to get rather out of date. We have recently had a real push to update it, and we think it again now forms a useful, completely free, resource.

    I appreciate that Cordery on Legal Services is aimed at a different market, and that those parts of it which address costs are often duplicative of Judge Cook’s book. However, there is a very helfpul section on CFAs and the indemnity principle, which shouldn’t be overlooked by those who have access to it. I am one of the contributors, along with my colleague Judith Ayling.

    Sadly, given the price, the notes to the costs section of the White Book leave much to be desired. Everything is in there somewhere, but they have simply been added to as new cases have been decided in the past few years, and have become shapeless and unmanageable. People who splash out £500 a year should be writing to the editors, demanding a re-write. If you don’t do it, it won’t happen…

  5. Does anyone know why the delivery date of the second edition of Friston keeps slipping?

    I ordered a copy from Amazon in April, shortly after seeing it recommended in glowing terms on this blog. I have received a succession of e-mails from Amazon to notify me of ever more delays. The latest was on 1 August, the date on which they had predicted Friston would, at last, be shipped. When I checked with Jordans they said they did not expect to publish it until the end of September.

    If there are many more delays, the second edition will be out of date before it is published.

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