Book review: Class Actions in England and Wales

• Editor: Damian Grave, Maura McIntosh and Gregg Rowan
• Publisher: Sweet & Maxwell 
• ISBN: 9780414057302
• RRP: £199

The words ‘class action’ immediately bring to mind the alleged excesses of the US opt out class process that some might term the ‘hot coffee’ style of litigation, after the infamous litigation in which a consumer sued a restaurant for serving coffee that was too hot. So, it is a bold step to title a book on collective process this side of the pond ‘Class Actions’, particularly one written by the defence bar in the form of Herbert Smith Freehills. On the claimant bar side, we have long referred to class actions as a collective phrase for any claim with large numbers of claimants, but the term has proved unpopular with authorities both here and in Europe because of the connotations it brings of US-style class litigation. The defence bar and the business lobby like the American Chamber of Commerce have used the term pejoratively as a signal for all the