The International Bar Association has named Brazil’s Carla Frade de Paula Castro and Nigeria’s Shola Temitope Famuyiwa as the winners of its Vlogging competition set up in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Frade de Paula Castro took the top prize in the young lawyer category, while Temitope Famuyiwa scooped the award in the law student category. Frade de Paula Castro’s vlog focuses on copyright law relating to livestream videos, an idea triggered by her work as an intellectual property lawyer in the music industry. 

Observing the decline in live music and the subsequent rise in livestream videos on online video-sharing platforms, her vlog details six ways to make such videos compliant with Brazilian law.

Asked about her win, she said: “This was a 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.”

Meantime, Temitope Famuyiwa’s vlog explores how Covid-19 emergency measures had impacted the human rights of vulnerable communities, notably individuals with disabilities and mental health issues who faced medical discrimination and inaccessible healthcare services.

Temitope Famuyiwa said of her winning entry: “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 regards to race, sex or religion.”

Sarah Hutchinson, managing director of BARBRI and chair of the IBA’s Section on Public and Professional Interest, praised the high standards of all the submissions. Her comments were echoed by Clyde & Co’s Masha Ooijevaar, co-vice chair of the IBA Young Lawyer’s Committee, who sat on the three-person judging panel. 

“We received some amazing vlogs,” Ooijevaar said, “and were very impressed with the enthusiasm of the participants and the quality and topics of entry.”

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

The vlogging competition is not the IBA’s first move online as a result of Covid-19. In May, its 2020 Miami Conference was cancelled in favour of a series of virtual events, the final shape of which was announced in August. The revamped programme has now been rebranded in what IBA president Horacio Bernardes Neto called “the first and one-of-a kind dynamic virtual event, the IBA 2020—Virtually Together Conference,” taking place mid-November.

Bernardes Neto added: “More than 250 sessions will be included in the programme, which will start with an opening address and culminate in the Rule of Law Symposium,” with live sessions scheduled to suit all time zones giving maximum opportunity to IBA members to participate.

The IBA has also reached out to younger lawyers through the July launch of an anonymous survey, available in English and Spanish to lawyers aged 40 and under, focusing on understanding the interests of young lawyers globally.