The first family-law ad on ChatGPT
Aquila placed the first family-law ad on ChatGPT before the platform allowed legal-services ads, by building it around a resource people actually wanted. Over 20% of its clicks turned into sign-ups.
How we got there first
When ChatGPT opened to advertisers, ads for legal services weren't allowed. There was a narrow route for educational content, and I was already positioned to use it. Offering something useful first is how I run every channel for clients, because it performs better, so the resource, the page, and the follow-up behind this ad were built before it ever ran.
The ad offered a free workbook for people preparing for a divorce. It led to an educational page with one thing to do there: get the workbook. The client firm stayed in the background until someone signed up, and the follow-up took it from there.
What it did
Over 20% of the ad's clicks turned into sign-ups for the workbook.
Every one of those people went straight into the firm's follow-up.
Pull quote
"Everyone in legal marketing was debating whether law firms could advertise on ChatGPT at all. I'd rather show the receipt than join the debate."
— Joshua David Little, from the June 2026 announcement
How we run ChatGPT ads now
ChatGPT ads are now one of the channels we run for law firms, alongside Google, Meta, and the rest, as part of one system. Being first meant we had a working approach built before the platform opened to legal services, with the follow-up behind it already in place.
The full account of how the first ad went live, written at the time, is in → I ran the first ever family-law ad on ChatGPT, and the announcement is in → the press release.
Joshua David Little is a Fractional CMO for law-firm owners and the founder of Aquila Law Firm Marketing. He has run his own consulting firm since 2004, and has done hands-on work helping attorneys prepare complex litigation for trial in family law, medical malpractice, personal injury, and unjust enrichment cases. He ran the first family-law ad on ChatGPT, before the platform allowed legal-services ads.