As you may recall, John Adams accepted the representation of the British soldiers who were charged in the Boston Massacre. No other colonist lawyer was willing to accept their representation for fear of losing standing with friends and countrymen.
Adams felt it was his duty as a lawyer, and representative of the judicial system to step in where they needed someone to speak for them; to see that justice was done and not miscarried because of the emotions of the Bostonians at the time.
John did not only an admirable job, he succeeded in have most of the soldiers acquitted under the law. During his argument in December, 1770, he said:
