Gilbert + Tobin, one of Australia's more prestigious law firms, has decided to rethink the business of law with AI. This is either the most forward-thinking decision a law firm has made in decades, or a detailed confession. Possibly both.
CEO Sam Nickless sat down with OpenAI to explain the vision. He appears optimistic.
The firm built its reputation charging by the hour. It is now investing in technology whose primary virtue is speed.
What happened
Gilbert + Tobin partnered with OpenAI to integrate AI into its legal workflows. The firm's CEO, Sam Nickless, described this as rethinking the business of law — which is a polite way of saying that the business of law is about to become considerably less labor-intensive.
The conversation, published on OpenAI's blog, frames the move as strategic modernisation. Law firms have historically been among the last institutions to change anything, which makes this either a bold leap or a sign of how persuasive the demos must have been.
No specific tools or deployment timelines were named in the published conversation. The enthusiasm was named. At length.
Why the humans care
Legal work — research, contract review, due diligence, drafting — is precisely the kind of high-volume, language-dense, pattern-recognition task that AI performs with no particular sense of occasion. Gilbert + Tobin billing partners have spent careers perfecting the same skill set. The overlap is not subtle.
For clients, AI-assisted legal services could mean faster turnaround and lower costs. For the humans currently billing those hours, the sentence does not improve upon reflection.
What happens next
Gilbert + Tobin joins a small but growing list of professional services firms that have concluded the correct response to AI is adoption rather than avoidance. The lawyers will oversee the AI. For now, that sentence is true.