Book review: Financial Remedies Practice 2023/24, 12th edition

Edited by Justice Nicholas Mostyn et al.

Reviewed by Richard Buswell

The go-to book for practice and procedure in financial remedy proceedings in the England and Wales High Court and Family Court has to be Financial Remedies Practice, an annual publication from Class Legal Publishing. The 12th edition is a soft-cover book of 1,214 pages.

The book’s style and layout truly appear designed to assist the practitioner, and it puts aside some of the conventions that traditional legal publishers follow. This is immediately obvious to the reader with the relocation to the back of the book of 86 pages of cases, statutes and statutory instruments. In simple terms, this book goes straight into what the reader might need. The format is exquisitely simple and ideally functional for the researching lawyer to quickly find all relevant sources of information.

If one is not certain where to begin with any research, at the beginning is a helpful table giving an ‘Outline of Provisions’ for each Part (a rule and its practice directions) of the Family Procedure Rules 2010 (the FPR), with a few impressively chosen words that succinctly and precisely summarise the application of each rule and practice direction. One may then turn to the contents pages, which are unlike any other known to this reviewer. They pithily lay out in one or two words what is to be found on nearly every numbered page of the book. If wanting for an aid to speed-reading and speed research, the combination of these sections produces it.

The main body of this work has a separate section for each Part in the FPR with any possible relevance to financial remedy proceedings. Each section has a commentary on the law and, after it (again applying practical thinking), the rule and any practice direction in force is helpfully reproduced without any additions, which is another real-world plus.

It is the commentary sections that deserve the highest praise for their quality in terms of detail and analysis. This is attributable to all the authors, no doubt working to the high standards set by lead author Sir Nicholas Mostyn, recently retired High Court judge of the Family Division. Where applicable, the Civil Procedure Rules and civil case law are drawn upon to illustrate and assist interpretation. At GBP125, many will consider this good value, particularly when consideration is given to the almost unmatched quality and range of practical experience of the authors.

Whether a family lawyer or a private client lawyer, this book is, as this reviewer has said before, the best.

Price: GBP125

Publisher: Class Legal Publishing

ISBN: 978-1801610674