Student wordsmith earns recognition

Cypress Lakes High School junior Victor Lam combined his knowledge of U.S. history and the judicial system with his love for writing to win the Houston Bar Association's 2011 Law Day essay contests. In competition against winning essays from local bar associations from across Texas, Lam's entry tied for third place in the state, Hockley said. Drawing upon the 2011 Law Day theme, "The Legacy of John Adams, From Boston to Guantanamo," Lam's essay imagined a present-day lawyer who represents a defendant accused in the 9/11 attacks as he draws strength from the role that Adams played in the 1770 Boston Massacre trials. In that historic example of an advocate defending the rights of an unpopular defendant, Adams successfully represented Capt. John Preston In regard to the 1770 trial, Lam wrote, When the trial began nearly a week before the final verdict, justice was deafened by the partisan screams of the patriots while truth was buried in the snow by opinion and inference.