IBA’s first vlogging competition winners announced

The International Bar Association (IBA) has announced Carla Frade de Paula Castro from Brazil and Shola Temitope Famuyiwa from Nigeria as the winners of its first ever vlogging competition. They won in the young lawyer category and law student category, respectively. The IBA 2020 Vlogging Competition was introduced in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Submissions of vlogs – a form of log for which the medium is video – were received from across the world, with competitors detailing their thoughts on COVID-19 and the law.

Ms Frade de Paula Castro’s winning vlog focuses on copyright law as it relates to livestream videos. She observed that the absence of live music concerts during the pandemic led to an increase in the popularity of livestream videos on online video-sharing platforms. Her vlog features six tips to make livestream videos compliant with Brazilian law, using specific examples to illustrate her points.

On her win, Ms Frade de Paula Castro commented: ‘As an intellectual property lawyer working in the music industry, I closely followed the impacts of COVID-19 and how livestream concerts came to be ubiquitous. This was an immediate hot topic for the Brazilian legal community, so the idea of sharing tips for a legally compliant livestream came naturally. I’m thrilled to have won the award and keen to contribute further to the IBA’s work.’

Law student Ms Temitope Famuyiwa tackled the effect of COVID-19 emergency measures on vulnerable communities in her winning entry. Referencing the inaccessibility of healthcare services and medical discrimination during the pandemic, she expressed concern for individuals with disabilities ormental health issues. Ms Temitope Famuyiwa urges viewers to contemplate how the human rights of vulnerable communities might be undermined under the guise of emergency measures.

Ms Temitope Famuyiwa said: ‘When the pandemic broke out, governments across the world put in place measures to curb the spread of the virus. However, people living with disabilities were not factored into schemes and their lives became miserable. This form of discrimination was pervasive in most African countries and I felt the need to speak out. Winning this award is a humbling experience for me and confirmation that merit makes no distinction with regard to race, sex or religion.’

The IBA 2020 Vlogging Competition was the initiative of IBA Secretary-General Almudena Arpón de Mendívil and the Chair of the Section on Public and Professional Interest, Sarah Hutchinson. It followed the May launch of the IBA Young Lawyers Survey as a way to further IBA engagement with young legal professionals, particularly during this unprecedented time.

Ms Hutchinson said: ‘I am hugely impressed by the high standards of all the submissions in our Vlogging competition and many congratulations to our winners. The IBA is committed to supporting young lawyers to reach their international career aspirations, and we look forward to welcoming this year’s worthy prize winners to join our association.’

The runners-up in the competition were named as:

Young lawyers category:

• Mihail Dishev, Germany
• Hector Daniel Sanchez Fernandez, Mexico
• John Edward Aslett, Canada
• Larissa de Mello Beckman, Brazil

Law students category:

• Gillian Rowe, Barbados
• Camilla Andrade Silveira Lima, Brazil
• Ironuru Michael Chidiebere, Nigeria

The judging panel comprised Masha Ooijevaar, Co-Vice Chair of the Young Lawyers' Committee, Bruno Oliveira Maggi, Co-Secretary of the Young Lawyer’s Committee, and Marie Brasseur Co-Secretary of the Young Lawyer’s Committee.

On behalf of the judging panel Ms Ooijevaar said, ‘We offer heartfelt congratulations to the winners and runners-up of the IBA 2020 Vlogging Competition. We received some amazing vlogs and were very impressed with the enthusiasm of the participants and the quality and topics of entries. Assessed on specificity, creativity and professionalism, the vlogs demonstrated the breadth of interest of young legal professionals. We are delighted that the vlogging competition has provided a platform for young professionals to share their views on the COVID-19 pandemic in relation to the law.’

Videos from the winners and runners-up of the IBA 2020 Vlogging Competition can be viewed here.

ENDS

Notes to the Editor

1. Videos from the winners and runners-up of the IBA 2020 Vlogging Competition can be viewed here: /Young-Lawyer-Vlogging-Competition-Winners
2. The International Bar Association (IBA), the global voice of the legal profession, is the foremost organisation for international legal practitioners, bar associations and law societies. Established in 1947, shortly after the creation of the United Nations, it was born out of the conviction that an organisation made up of the world's bar associations could contribute to global stability and peace through the administration of justice. In the ensuing 70 years since its creation, the organisation has evolved from an association comprised exclusively of bar associations and law societies to one that incorporates individual international lawyers and entire law firms. The present membership is comprised of more than 80,000 individual international lawyers from most of the world’s leading law firms and some 190 bar associations and law societies spanning more than 170 countries.

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