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Tyler Metteer credits a love of arguing and a great history teacher with helping him win an annual essay contest sponsored by the Oregon State Bar鈥檚 New Lawyers Division.

This year鈥檚 fictional case, the basis for the essays, involved a student who made disparaging remarks about another student on Facebook. The case weighed the right to free speech with the school district鈥檚 obligation to prevent cyber-bullying. Essay writers were encouraged to examine precedents set by four landmark cases: Morse v. Frederick, Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, Bethel School District v. Fraser, and Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier.

Metteer, a senior at Willamette High School in Eugene, ultimately ruled in favor of the student鈥檚 First Amendment rights. He notes that while he doesn鈥檛 necessarily plan to become an attorney someday, he thoroughly enjoyed writing the essay.

鈥淚 learned how to use court cases to back up your arguments. And I鈥檝e read a lot of legal thrillers but I had never looked at cases that weren鈥檛 dramatized, so I learned about the realities of the legal process,鈥� he says.

Matteer plans to use his $500 prize to pay for his plane ticket to Drew University in New Jersey, where he will attend college in the fall.

Second-place winner Joel Kwartler, a sophomore at Lake Oswego High School, says he initially did not have a strong opinion about the case and it took about 35 minutes just to pick a side.

鈥淚 would start writing in favor of the school or the student and then decide it was the other party that had the law on their side,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 learned just how difficult interpreting the law can be, especially in a case that could go either way. I also learned that it is best to deal with each preceding bit of case law one at a time because, otherwise, there are contradictions.鈥�

Kwartler received a $350 scholarship, and third-place winner Haley Gallagher received a $250 scholarship. Gallagher attends Sandy High School.