Three first-year law students at the University of Miami's School of Law—Madison Borkovich, Brhea D’Mello, and Julia Meah—recently secured second place in Florida State University’s Legal Tech Challenge pitch competition. All three students are members of Miami Law’s Technology Law Club.
The trio pitched an innovative app named "Easy IP" that aims to assist social media content creators in detecting potential intellectual property infringement. Their idea was inspired by Meah's own experience as a social media influencer whose ideas were stolen by other creators. The app would enable users to determine the novelty of their ideas, procure trademarks and copyrights, and connect with intellectual property lawyers. Easy IP would allow those who lacked resources, legal knowledge, and social capital to procure trademarks and copyrights. The application would also help users determine if their ideas were novel or had already been deployed and allow intellectual property lawyers to connect with users in need of guidance in niche procurement situations.
Florida State’s Tech Challenge invites students from law schools across the state of Florida to propose a technology-related solution to a legal issue in the business domain. The competition included judges from intellectual property, legal, business, and development spheres and involved partners from Florida State University College of Law, Greenberg Traurig, Fish and Richardson, Privity AI, and eMerge Americas.
Miami Law’s team, the competition’s only team comprised solely of women, was randomly assigned to pitch second to last. They became nervous after the team that preceded them also pitched a social media-related idea. However, after presenting their pitch deck to judges in the legal, technology, and business spheres and fielding questions, the team had nothing to fear, walking away with second place.
Borkovich, D’Mello, and Meah were already enrolled in the same section of a class, but they became a team after they all expressed interest in the Technology Law Club group chat.
The Technology Law Club at Miami Law is dedicated to empowering law students by bridging the gap between law, technology, and innovation. Their mission is to provide a platform for Miami Law students to explore the constantly evolving landscape of technology law, engage with cutting-edge legal tech developments, and foster discussions on the various implications of technology in the legal profession.
“This seemed like a great opportunity to push myself as a 1L, and once we built a supportive yet accountable team, I was even more invested,” Borkovich said. “Miami Law’s outreach and opportunities have helped me feel more at home and connected as a first-generation lawyer.”
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