New third edition of our leading textbook Class Actions in England and Wales

The text has been fully updated to reflect developments since the second edition in 2022.

A third edition of our text on class actions in England and Wales, co-authored by HSF Kramer lawyers, has been published in the UK by Sweet & Maxwell. Edited by partners Damian Grave and Gregg Rowan, and knowledge counsel Maura McIntosh, it has been co-authored, in addition, by partners Greig Anderson, David Bennett, Neil Blake, Chris Bushell, Andrew Cannon, Simon Clarke, Nick Clayton, Julian Copeman, Kim Dietzel, Natasha Johnson, Rupert Lewis, Rachel Lidgate, Andrew Taggart, Alan Watts, Joe Williams and Stephen Wisking.

Class actions in England and Wales is a practical guide for practitioners involved in class action litigation in the courts of England and Wales. Previous editions of the book have been cited in two Supreme Court decisions, Lloyd v Google (2021) and AXA Insurance UK PLC v Commissioners of Inland Revenue (2026).

Since the previous addition in 2022, the competition collective action (CPO) regime has further matured. There have been a number of new cases, and several existing cases have now progressed through to the judgment and/or settlement stages, including the Le Patourel, Kent and Gutmann (Trains) as well as McLaren (Ro-Ro), Merricks (Mastercard) and Which? (Qualcomm). This has created a new body of case law and revealed new challenges to be addressed that were not apparent during the early certification-focused years of the regime.

At the same time, there is still life in the certification process with a number of further appellate decisions, including most notably the Supreme Court's judgment in Evans, which emphasised balancing access to justice considerations against the risk of weak claims leveraging settlement pressure in opt-out actions and an ongoing evolution in the approach of the CAT to the assessment of the authorisation condition.

All of this additional case law is dealt with in the updated 'Competition Claims' chapter of the textbook.

Commenting on the launch, co-author and competition litigation partner, Kim Dietzel said: "Competition class actions continue to shape the UK litigation landscape, with claims regularly brought on behalf of millions of consumers and businesses. As the regime matures, questions around certification, redress, funding and the role of class representatives remain at the centre of debate. Our recently published third edition of Class Actions in England and Wales reviews the latest case law, policy developments and proposals for reform."