Gilbert + Tobin's AI Adoption With OpenAI: 87% ChatGPT Usage and a $62 Partner Review
Gilbert + Tobin, one of Australia's leading corporate law firms, has moved from ad-hoc AI experimentation to defined, multistep agentic workflows using ChatGPT Enterprise, ChatGPT Work and Codex, with people retaining responsibility for review and approval. The firm reports 87% active usage among enabled ChatGPT users — more than twice the adoption rate it typically sees for other tools — and frames AI's value as freeing lawyers for client-facing, coaching and mentoring work rather than reducing headcount.
OpenAI published the account as part of its Executive Function series, which features perspectives from leaders driving transformation through AI. The interview is with Sam Nickless, Partner and Chief Executive Officer at Gilbert + Tobin, whose practice spans capital markets, mergers and acquisitions, disputes, and technology.
What Gilbert + Tobin set out to achieve with AI
Gilbert + Tobin's AI program has three stated objectives: deliver better services to clients, make the firm a great place to work for its people, and establish itself as a market leader.
Nickless said the value observed so far has not come from cost reduction or needing fewer people. Instead, it has come from freeing staff to focus on the more human side of legal work — meeting with clients, coaching teams and mentoring future industry leaders.
"It's been about…freeing them up to then do the more human side of their work."
—Sam Nickless, Partner and Chief Executive Officer, Gilbert + Tobin
The three-phase adoption journey: experimentation, personal productivity, organisational productivity
Gilbert + Tobin describes its AI journey in three phases: experimentation, personal productivity, and organisational productivity.
In the first phase, when ChatGPT first became available, the firm encouraged people to experiment and identify where the technology might create value. The constraint was explicit: no client data or confidential information could be entered. That gave staff what the firm describes as a safe, constrained environment to experiment.
The second step was providing a secure channel to powerful AI. The firm introduced ChatGPT Enterprise in a controlled environment and expanded from there. Australian data residency, contractual protections, role-based access and administrative controls gave Gilbert + Tobin the confidence to scale while meeting its own requirements and those of its clients.
The firm's governance message was that AI is not cheating — it is another tool people can use to apply their judgement. Staff still need to define the task, check the output and take responsibility for the final work.
Adoption reached 87% active usage among enabled ChatGPT users
Gilbert + Tobin reports unusually high adoption for a law firm: 87% active usage among enabled ChatGPT users, more than twice the rate the firm typically sees for other tools.
Leadership behaviour shaped that culture. According to Nickless, leaders have to use the technology themselves — experiment, push the boundaries and learn what works — because when people see that AI matters to leadership, it sets the tone and encourages others to engage.
"Getting started yourself…sets the tone and encourages others."
—Sam Nickless, Partner and Chief Executive Officer, Gilbert + Tobin
The firm did not mandate usage targets. Instead, it made the technology relevant: its business transformation team demonstrated workflows tailored to different functions, while videos, showcases, challenges and an early AI bounty surfaced ideas from across the firm. Nickless highlighted that the creativity came from every part of the organisation, not only the technology team.
A CEO-built "digital twin" now supports his direct reports
Nickless created a "digital twin" through a custom GPT — now shifting to Plugins — using examples of his writing, feedback he had received, context about the firm and the way he likes to work. It began as a personal tool and became more valuable when he shared it with his direct reports.
His team can use it to get "my feedback" via ChatGPT, testing their thinking against his context and working style before coming to him. Nickless is explicit about the boundary: the tool does not make decisions or speak for him; it helps conversations start from a stronger place.
ChatGPT Work completed a 120-partner annual review in minutes for about $62
Nickless used ChatGPT Work in a confidential annual review process involving the firm's 120 partners. He asked it to update files with data from a spreadsheet, create PDFs and bundle the finished material. It completed the work in minutes.
He noted that with a product as powerful as ChatGPT Work, the right admin controls behind the scenes matter, and that it now provides detailed, granular usage data. When he checked the usage dashboard afterwards, the cost for that annual review work was about $62 — which he described as a good trade for the time saved and for work that would otherwise have required several other people over multiple days.
Nickless's advice for other CEOs starting with AI
Nickless's guidance for other chief executives is to start by using the technology personally: experiment with real work, understand its limitations and show people that learning matters.
That leadership should be paired with clear governance and practical enablement — give teams examples tailored to their roles, create safe ways to test ideas, and keep people responsible for the result.
He argues the opportunity is bigger than doing the same work a little more quickly. Used well, AI can raise the quality and volume of what an organisation produces and give people more time for the complex, strategic work where their expertise and judgement create the greatest value.
OpenAI points readers to a fuller case study on Gilbert + Tobin's work with OpenAI for additional detail.