First litigation win for AI law firm
A British-based law firm that provides legal services through AI has claimed its first litigation victory after winning a small debt judgment in the county court, according to the England-and-Wales Gazette.
Garfield AI, which markets itself as the world’s first regulator-authorised AI law firm, said that it had helped a client receive an award of Stg £7,000 earlier this month at Wandsworth County Court.
The firm was instructed to recover unpaid fees to a freelancer who had provided HR-related services to a hospitality business.
She used Garfield AI to generate pre-action correspondence and then to prepare and issue court proceedings.
Counter-claim
The Gazette says that the defendant in the case brought a counter-claim, which was also challenged by the client through Garfield AI.
The firm then instructed junior barrister Dominic Li shortly before the trial began.
After a three-hour hearing in which both sides were represented by counsel, the court found in favour of the claimant and dismissed the counter-claim.
AI ‘made process more accessible’
Philip Young (chief executive and co-founder of Garfield AI) described the outcome as “a landmark moment not just for the firm, but for access to justice”.
“For too long, businesses have been forced to write off debts because the cost, time, and stress of litigation made pursuing them uneconomic,” he stated.
“AI did not replace the judge, the barrister or the legal system. What it did was make the process more accessible, more efficient, and more affordable, so that a meritorious claimant could get to the point where her case could be heard and justice could be done,” Young said.
The Gazette says that the firm has been operating for just over a year after authorisation from the Solicitors Regulation Authority, specialising in helping businesses recover debts of up to £10,000.