What this is
Gilbert + Tobin is embedding AI into legal service workflows rather than limiting it to drafting emails and producing summaries. Sam Nickless, partner and chief executive of the Australian law firm, said in a conversation with OpenAI that the team is exploring how models can process legal materials, accelerate professional work, and convert parts of the firm’s business experience into reusable software capabilities.
In simple terms, this is not about having AI act as a lawyer and deliver legal conclusions directly. It is about turning research, analysis, and document work that once depended on senior lawyers into scalable, automated workflows. Legal AI—using artificial intelligence to handle legal materials, documents, and work tasks—still requires professionals to exercise judgment and assume responsibility.
Industry view
We see law firms adopting AI not merely to generate polished-looking text, but to redesign service delivery: the same group of professionals can serve more clients and complete projects faster. For corporate clients, that could mean faster and cheaper legal support. It could also allow firms to convert some expertise from personal experience into organizational assets.
The risks are just as clear. Legal liability, client confidentiality, data access permissions, and erroneous outputs cannot be resolved by the model itself. AI-generated content can also obscure the source of professional judgment, leading clients to assume that a service has been fully automated. A more serious concern is that if firms treat AI only as a tool for cutting costs while ignoring clients’ expectations of professional accountability, long-term trust will not necessarily increase.
Impact on regular people
For enterprise IT:Legal materials typically involve contracts, litigation, and personal information. As organizations introduce related tools, permission isolation, data retention, and audit records become more important.
For professionals:A substantial amount of research and first-draft work by lawyers, legal teams, and consultants may decline. Value will increasingly center on framing the right questions, assessing risk, and coordinating communication.
For the consumer market:If AI genuinely lowers the cost of legal services, small and medium-sized businesses may gain access to standardized support earlier. But lower prices do not automatically mean a corresponding improvement in service quality.