Briefcase

After an argument with his wife, Verity, Jason Button threw a stapler which struck her on the face. Is he guilty of violent assault? Or was it just a matter of bad luck? The incident also stirs up old tensions over Verity and Jason's prenuptial agreement and a bequest from Verity's father. BRIEFCASE, the first book of poems by District Court Judge John Adams, is a collection presented as a briefcase of lost documents and poems, allowing the author to play with a wide range of stylistic ideas around a central narrative theme, producing a mélange of poems - in traditional and experimental forms - and other texts: affidavits, police reports, a Sudoku puzzle, court transcripts, a menu, wills, commentaries. A disordered novella in legal documents, brutal and amusing by turns, Briefcase unfolds a fascinating story and also superbly explores the role of language as a vessel for truth and an implement of justice.

John Adams is a poet, a judge of the district and family courts, and a former consulting editor of the Butterworths Family Law Service. He teaches settlement conference and mediation skills for Institute of Judicial Studies and legal education courses in family law skills for the New Zealand Law Society.