A law firm providing legal services through AI has claimed its first litigation victory after winning a small debt judgment in the county court.
Garfield AI, which markets itself as the world’s first regulator-authorised AI law firm, said it helped a client receive an award of £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.
The defendant in the case brought a counterclaim and this was also challenged by the client through Garfield AI.
The firm then instructed junior barrister Dominic Li shortly before the trial began. Following a three-hour hearing in which both sides were represented by counsel, the court found in favour of the claimant and dismissed the counterclaim.
Garfield AI said the result reflects the positive combination of AI-enabled litigation support and skilled human courtroom advocacy. The judgment has not been published.
Philip Young, chief executive and co-founder of Garfield AI, said this was 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 said. ‘Here, a freelancer who had done the work and not been paid was able to take her case all the way to trial, resist a counterclaim, and win. That is exactly why Garfield exists.
‘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.’
The firm has been operating for just over a year following authorisation from the Solicitors Regulation Authority, specialising in helping businesses recover debts of up to £10,000. One of the firm’s selling points at its creation was the initial ‘polite chaser’ letter for which it charged £2.
The firm says more than 600 claims have been started on the platform and it has so far recovered £500,000 for users.
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