How law firm Gilbert + Tobin governs and scales AI with OpenAI

Gilbert + Tobin is one of Australia’s leading corporate law firms, recognised for its work across capital markets, mergers and acquisitions, disputes, and technology. The firm’s practice depends on specialist knowledge, careful judgment, and the secure handling of sensitive information. When generative AI began reshaping knowledge work, Gilbert + Tobin saw an opportunity—not to change how it delivers legal advice, but to raise the standard of the operational work that supports it. The firm set out to give every operations team sharper tools for research, drafting, and analysis, while preserving the governance and professional accountability its clients expect. ChatGPT Enterprise was introduced first to operations teams, where practical use cases could be tested in a controlled environment. From there, adoption expanded into marketing, business development, recruitment, finance, technology, business transformation, and parts of the legal practice. Throughout, the focus has remained on how the firm operates, not on displacing the professional judgment at the heart of its legal services. With Codex, the firm is moving further still, from AI that assists individuals with discrete tasks to AI that completes defined steps across larger workflows. Turning leadership support into firm-wide adoption Visible leadership helped make AI adoption relevant and legitimate across the firm. CEO Sam Nickless introduced ChatGPT to employees through examples from his own work.

His message, “AI is not cheating,” positioned it as another tool employees could use to apply their judgment, rather than an inappropriate shortcut. Other senior leaders became active users and shared examples with their teams. Gilbert + Tobin paired that leadership support with role-specific enablement. Instead of relying on generic training, the business transformation team joined individual team meetings to demonstrate workflows tailored to marketing, finance, recruitment, operations, and other functions. Internal videos, showcases, challenges, and use-case stories helped employees keep pace as ChatGPT gained new capabilities. The firm did not mandate usage targets. It focused on showing employees what the technology could do while keeping people accountable for the result.