David Freiheit
David Freiheit (born 1979), is a Canadian lawyer,[2] and YouTuber under the pseudonym Viva Frei.[3]
David Freiheit | |||||||
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Personal information | |||||||
Born | David Freiheit 1979 (age 40–41) | ||||||
Residence | Westmount, Montreal, Quebec[1] | ||||||
Occupation | YouTuber, Commercial litigator | ||||||
Website | vivafrei | ||||||
YouTube information | |||||||
Channels | |||||||
Years active | 2012–present | ||||||
Genre | |||||||
Subscribers | 227,000 | ||||||
Total views | 58 million | ||||||
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Updated 11 June 2020 |
Biography
Freiheit grew up in Montreal, Quebec, as the youngest of five siblings.[4] He enjoyed creating videos.[5] He studied Creative Arts at Dawson College and received his Bachelor of Arts at McGill University. He then received his civil law degree from Université Laval where he was the editor-in-chief of the university's law journal.[4]
In 2007, Freiheit began practising law, following in the footsteps of his father and older siblings.[6] He worked professionally for the prominent commercial litigation firm Borden Ladner Gervais for six years,[7] but left to be a freelance litigator after his first child to have a more favorable work-life balance,[3] starting a firm called Freiheit Legal.[8]
For the first few years of his YouTube career, Freiheit was a practicing commercial litigator, and he struggled to find time to create his videos. Videos took up to a month to make because of the limited time he had.[9] In January 2018, he discontinued his litigation practice and turned full-time to YouTube.[10]
YouTube Career
Early content and awards (2014-2019)
Freiheit started his YouTube career in early 2014 by posting videos of him lip syncing to various pop songs while running obstacle courses dressed in a full suit.[11] These videos were not receiving many views, so Freiheit decided to try another style; in late 2014, Freiheit started posted nature-related stunts.[12][13] He gained popularity when he posted a video of a squirrel picking up his GoPro action camera and carrying it up a tree.[14][15] Freiheit then started posting videos of stunts involving the use of a drone.[16][17]
In 2016, Freiheit won a GoPro Award for his use of their cameras in his videos.[18] He won a Shorty Social Good Award for Best Overall Youtube Presence in 2017.[19]
In January 2019, Freiheit was invited by GoPro to be a featured panelist at the Consumer Electronics Show at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.[20]
Style change (2019-present)
From 2014 to 2019, Freiheit had only accumulated around 60,000 subscribers. In April 2019, he decided that since law-related content was by far his channel's most popular genre, he would change the style of his channel and only post vlogs analyzing different current issues from a law standpoint.[21][22] He started a second channel, "Viva Random", as a place to maintain his former content style.[1]
Freiheit classifies the political stance he takes on his channel as non-partisan.[23] He had described his channel as including a "pretty decent balance of left and right".[6]
References
- Macdavid, Thomas (22 April 2020). "A Montrealer Turned His Street Into A Massive Sock Dartboard To Play From The Roof (Video)". MTL. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
- "Interview With a Vlogger: Determined Viva Frei and His Viral Videos". Medium. 12 April 2018. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
- Moore, Karl (25 April 2020). "From Lawyer To YouTuber: How David Freiheit Found His Niche". Forbes. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
- "David Freiheit". Freiheit Legal. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
- Tang, Pency (14 March 2019). "Alumni spotlight: David Freiheit". McGill University. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
- "Know Your Vlawg: An Interview with Viva Frei". 25 September 2019. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
- Tison, Florence (29 April 2020). "D'avocat à YouTubeur" (in French). Droit. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
- "David Freiheit is the founder of Freiheit Legal Inc., a Montreal boutique law firm specializing in commercial litigation and general corporate law". Montreal Gazette. 31 August 2012. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
- Murphy, Eliza (29 August 2016). "Dad Spoofs Jason Bourne With Hilarious (Baby) 'Bjorn Identity' Video". ABC News. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
- Deshaies, Sarah (12 January 2018). "Quebec's YouTube stars upload their lives". Montreal Gazette. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
- "Montreal dad enlists squirrel to help remove daughter's tooth". Hamilton Spectator. 24 June 2016. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
- Watters, Hayden (25 June 2016). "How nutty! Montreal dad gets squirrel to yank out daughter's tooth". CBC. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
- "Hot Water + Freezing Temperature + Camera = Amazing Videos!". Indian Express. 2 January 2018. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
- Sirucek, Stefan (22 November 2014). "Watch: This Is What Happens When You Give a Squirrel a GoPro". National Geographic. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
- Griggs, Mary Beth (9 August 2016). "This Is What The World Looks Like From a Squirrel's Point Of View". Popular Science. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
- Prestwich, Emma (7 December 2016). "David Freiheit, Quebec Man, Uses Drone To Wax His Leg". Huffington Post. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
- "Quebec father-daughter duo get park squirrels to yank out baby tooth from girl's mouth". National Post. 24 June 2016. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
- "GoPro Awards: Squirrel Runs Off With GoPro". GoPro. 12 August 2016. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
- "Breakout YouTuber - Winner in YouTube Presence". Shorty Awards. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
- "David Freiheit invited to the CES in Las Vegas". CTV News Breakfast Television. 21 January 2019. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
- Mendes, David (10 October 2019). "David Freiheit – Merging Law, Popularization, and Content Creation". Papa Phd. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
- "David Freiheit, l'avocat YouTubeur" (in French). Les Affaires. 21 April 2020. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
- "Viva Frei". 27 April 2020. Retrieved 10 June 2020.