Peter Hurst LLB MPhil FCIArb was the Senior Costs Judge of England & Wales, at the Royal Courts of Justice, from 1992 to 2014.

During a judicial career which has spanned thirty years, he was also Judicial Taxing Officer of the House of Lords from 2002 to 2009 and of the United Kingdom Supreme Court from 2009 to 2014 and also of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council from 2002 to 2014. He sat not only as a costs judge in the
SCCO but also as a recorder in civil and criminal matters, including costs appeals from District Judges. He sat as an assessor with High Court Judges dealing with numerous costs appeals. He was invited to sit with the Court of Appeal as an assessor when that Court was dealing with difficult or complex
costs appeals.

He worked closely with Lord Woolf on the Access to Justice Reforms and was an assessor to Lord Justice Jackson’s Review of Costs and visited several overseas Jurisdictions in that capacity. He has been heavily involved in the implementation process with Lord Justice Jackson and Mr Justice Ramsay both in the Civil Procedure Rule Committee and with Ministry of Justice officials. He chaired the sub-committee charged with redrafting the costs rules and practice directions.

He was a member of the Advisory Committee on Civil Costs, which was disbanded in favour of the Civil Justice Council Costs Committee of which he was Deputy Chairman. He is the author of Civil Costs (Sweet & Maxwell Litigation Library) now in its
Sixth edition; and, Criminal Costs (OUP). He was until retirement a member of the Senior Editorial Board of Civil Procedure (“The White Book” Sweet & Maxwell) as well as being an editor contributing the commentary on all the costs rules and practice directions. He is now an advisory editor of “The White Book” and the main editor of Costs & Funding following the Civil Justice
Reforms, now in its sixth edition. . He has lectured frequently at costs conferences and seminars including at the Westminster Legal Policy Forum, University College London and at Clare College Cambridge.

Costs and Litigation Funding

Costs and Litigation Funding is the area of Peter Hurst’s expertise. This covers all sectors of litigation as well as solicitor/ client disputes which may arise out of non-contentious matters as well as out of litigation. He is instructed as an expert in relation to costs and funding in numerous cases.

Arbitration and Mediation

Litigation, including group litigation, in all sectors gives rise to claims for costs which are frequently very large and difficult to resolve. The use of arbitration, mediation, early neutral evaluation and expert assessment can all result in matters being brought to a satisfactory conclusion. Peter Hurst has been
instructed in a number of such cases and has been asked to act as an Independent Costs Expert (ICE).