Nothing But the Truth

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, Grieve has both defended and prosecuted cases that have gripped the nation: the notorious Peter Plumley-Walker dominatrix murder trials, the Springbok Clowns case, the Cervical Cancer Inquiry and the Erebus Royal Commission, as well as prosecuting perpetrators of sexual assault and domestic violence and acting as special advocate for Ahmed Zaoui and Kim Dotcom.

But the stories Grieve 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 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?