Annual IBA Outstanding Young Lawyer Award
Application details
Each year, the IBA Young Lawyers’ Committee present an award to a young lawyer who has shown not only excellence in their work and achievements in their career to date, but also a commitment to professional and ethical standards as well as a commitment to the larger community.
The IBA Young Lawyers’ Committee’s goal is to identify, discuss and promote issues relevant to young lawyers. Its purpose is to provide a point of first contact for young lawyers to the IBA so that they can learn about the other IBA divisions and become further involved in the Association.
The Annual IBA Outstanding Young Lawyer Award is in recognition of William Reece Smith Jr. A former IBA President, William Reece Smith Jr, who passed away in 2013, distinguished himself as one the finest and most respected legal experts. In a career spanning more than 50 years, he demonstrated leadership in the legal profession as an accomplished lawyer, an extensively published legal scholar and lecturer, a mentor and an outstanding community servant. In addition, Mr Smith exemplified a commitment to advancing many charitable and civic causes, most notably in his support for legal services to the poor.
Applications for the 2026 Annual IBA Award for Outstanding Young Lawyer Award are now closed.
Please contact divisions@int-bar.org with any questions.
Please contact divisions@int-bar.org with any questions.
2026 Recipient
Charmaine Yap, from Singapore, has been named as the recipient of the 2026 IBA Outstanding Young Lawyer Award. Her career reflects legal excellence, service to the community and a deep commitment to improving access to justice for those most in need.
Commenting on receiving the 2026 Award, Charmaine Yap said:
‘This award affirms our collective responsibility to use our voices. Lawyers work with power and with the language of rights and responsibilities. With this privileged position, we cannot accept inequality simply because it is longstanding, violence because it is distant or injustice because it is familiar. My work to advance the rights of migrant workers and refugees, and to push for action on climate change and energy justice, grew from recognising that it is entirely blind fortune that decides where, when and as what we are born. Because of that, our obligations cannot be limited by borders, by time or by species. This award reminds me that there is a community of lawyers who refuses to become desensitised to suffering and who continues to insist that dignity matters.’
Previous Recipients
Congratulations to Oluwafunke (Funke) Adeoye, winner of the 2025 Annual IBA Outstanding Young Lawyer Award!
Congratulations to Mashal Aamir, winner of the 2024 Annual IBA Outstanding Young Lawyer Award!
