Nothing But the Truth

An inside view of New Zealand's most fascinating legal cases from one of our most distinguished lawyers.

New Zealand's courtrooms have seen few figures as formidable – or as enduring – as Stuart Grieve KC. Over five decades of criminal law and trial advocacy, Stuart has had a front-row seat for the cases that have gripped the nation: the notorious Peter Plumley-Walker murder trials, the Springbok Tour clowns case, the Gisborne Cervical Cancer Inquiry and the Erebus Royal Commission among them. He has prosecuted perpetrators of sexual assault and domestic violence, and acted as a special advocate for Ahmed Zaoui and Kim Dotcom.

But the stories Stuart tells in Nothing But the Truth are bigger than any single verdict. Spanning decades of social and cultural change, this is as much a history of New Zealand as it is an analysis of the law: examining how our legal system has evolved alongside shifting public attitudes and identifying where it still has some way to go.

Candid, often amusing and compulsively readable, this is an account of a life spent in pursuit of the most difficult question the law can pose: what is justice, and who does it truly serve?