Times are a-changin’ when an international law firm asks law students to compete for a professional opportunity using video entries alone, sans interview skills and fancy suits.

Bird & Bird is saying farewell to traditional essay writing and debating and is pioneering its ‘GC for a Day’ campaign in Australia, inviting students across the country to answer the question, ‘What do you envisage as the greatest opportunity for General Counsel of the future?’ in just 90 seconds of video footage.

The students with the winning entries will spend a day shadowing a General Counsel at either Vodafone, Bravura Solutions, AUB Group, FetchTV or Enero Group. Interstate winners will be flown to Sydney to participate, and all winners will have a one-on-one mentoring session with a Bird & Bird lawyer followed by a celebration dinner.

“This is a really great opportunity for creative and ambitious law students – the organisations participating cover many of the sectors most important to Australia’s future – telecommunications, technology, finance, marketing and media,” Bird & Bird Australia managing partner Shane Barber said.

“Creating these sorts of opportunities is part of Bird & Bird’s DNA. We love supporting creative thinkers and inquisitive minds and are really keen to learn what student lawyers see as the greatest opportunity for General Counsel of the future.

The ‘GC for a Day’ campaign is the firm’s first Australian brand campaign since launching in the market in October 2014 by a merger with Truman Hoyle.

Bird & Bird global director of business development and marketing Jill Warren added, “Bird & Bird is known for its trail-blazing, creative approach to marketing.  We wanted to do something that would resonate with students, and provide an insight into the technology driven, innovative attitude of Bird & Bird.

“We believe this social media led, digital campaign is the first of its kind in this industry and market, so we look forward to bringing the future of the Australian legal industry with us on this journey.”

Entries are now open and the competition runs until 16 March. More information is available at www.gcforaday.com.