Cooley GO Public: Accelerating IPO Workflows with ChatGPT Work
Cooley implements agentic AI to streamline IPO preparation
Cooley has developed GO Public, a proprietary AI product built on ChatGPT Work, to automate the synthesis and analysis of the vast amounts of information required for initial public offerings (IPOs). By using an agentic harness to manage workflows, the firm enables lawyers to move through intensive preparation faster, shifting human effort from manual data sorting to high-value strategic decision-making and legal judgment.
The GO Public agentic system and workflow
GO Public replaces the traditional method of adapting precedents from comparable companies with a client-centric approach. The system integrates client-provided information, relevant public sources, and curated precedents to generate a tailored starting point for legal review.
Key technical and operational components of the system include:
- Agentic Harness: A controlled workflow that defines which steps agents perform automatically and identifies specific points where lawyers must review or validate the work.
- Baked-in Know-how: The integration of curated information from previous analyses to embed the firm's subject-matter expertise directly into the AI's process.
- Collaborative Engineering: A partnership between Cooley's legal engineers, innovation counsel, and practitioners, working with OpenAI to combine AI engineering with legal expertise.
Impact on lawyer and management efficiency
The integration of ChatGPT Work allows Cooley to achieve "speed to quality," meaning the firm reaches a strong starting point sooner rather than simply completing tasks faster. This redistribution of effort provides two primary benefits:
- For Lawyers: Legal professionals can concentrate their expertise on the highest-value surface areas, such as challenging disclosures and applying strategic thinking to transaction-shaping issues.
- For Management Teams: By reducing the time executives must spend on the intensive preparation phase of an IPO, management can remain focused on running their businesses and shaping the company's narrative.
"ChatGPT Work allows us to move more quickly through intensive preparation and give valuable time back to management. We want their attention focused where only they can add value — on the business, the story and the decisions that will ultimately shape the offering." — Dave Peinsipp, Partner and Co-Chair, Global Capital Markets
Strategic shift in capital markets practice
Cooley views GO Public as a blueprint for the future of capital markets practice. While the legal industry is traditionally change-averse, the firm is using OpenAI's technology to rethink how work is delivered while maintaining professional accountability and the obligation to produce legally defensible outcomes.
David Wang, Chief Innovation Officer at Cooley, notes that the system is designed to help lawyers consider more information while directing their expertise toward the decisions that matter most. The firm intends to expand this vision beyond IPOs to capital markets transactions more broadly.