When Tamir Kamal Taqwader sued a hospitality company over unpaid fees of more than £7,000 (about US$9,271), she sought AI help.
In May, a judge at Wandsworth District Court ruled in her favour, according to the Financial Times. I mentioned Monday (June 22).
Kamal Taqdeer, who provides human resources services independently, had tried to resolve the matter directly before turning to him Garfield Amnesty International. The Financial Times reported that it paid the company nearly 400 pounds (about $529) in fees.
The AI was taking over the pretrial work normally performed by a lawyer, including drafting witness statements, preparing court filings, and managing correspondence. Under Garfield’s instructions, a human attorney argued the case at the three-hour hearing, according to the report. Founder of Garfield Philip YoungA former lawyer in London told the Financial Times that the result was the first trial won by a law firm working in the field of artificial intelligence anywhere in the world.
The Financial Times said that Garfield received regulatory approval from the Solicitors Regulation Authority in 2025, becoming the first AI-powered law firm in the United Kingdom.
“For too long, companies have been forced to write off their debts because the cost, time, and stress of litigation made it uneconomical to pursue them,” Young said in a statement Monday. mail About the case on the Garfield website. “AI has not replaced the judge, the lawyer, or the legal system. All it has done is make the process easier, more efficient, and more affordable.”
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In the same post, Kamal Taqdeer said that she was “pleased with the result.”
“I was owed money for the work I did, but I felt that the process of getting that amount back could be very cumbersome, expensive and time-consuming,” Kemal Takwidir said. “Garfield enabled me to pursue the claim and keep going.”
The growth of legal AI
Until now, most AI legal tools have served as research and drafting aids for human lawyers. The Garfield model goes further.
AS PYMNTS I mentioned In October, AI moved from pilot-scale experimentation to built-in infrastructure across law firms, with funding for legal tech startups surpassing $2.4 billion in 2025.
Garfield’s AI acts as an advocate in routine debt recovery and small claims disputes.
According to the Financial Times, the company said it processed more than 600 claims and recovered nearly £500,000 (about $662,000) for customers. Most cases are settled before a court ruling is reached. Claim values ranged from £30 to £10,000 (about $40 to $13,241). Garfield offers debt relief letters starting at two pounds (about $2.65) and claim forms starting at 50 pounds (about $66).
The Wandsworth case only moved beyond settlement after the defendant filed a counterclaim, forcing the matter to trial.
Cloud hallucinations push the legal industry into artificial intelligence
The legal industry has been slower than other professional services sectors to embrace AI disruption. Concerns about confidentiality and jurisdictional differences in court procedures have complicated the process of adopting this method.
This is changing as more law firms invest in technology. Kirkland and Ellis He said in May it was Commitment of $500 million To build its own artificial intelligence platform. AS PYMNTS I mentioned In April, Operating system statement It raised $60 million at a $750 million valuation in what it called the largest Series A for a legal technology company. Harvey It has raised more than 800 million dollars It now serves eight of the ten highest-grossing law firms in the United States.
However, AI hallucinations still pose a risk.
According to June 11 a report From Business Insider U.S. District Judge Sharion Aycock sanctioned and removed the four attorneys from both sides in a contract dispute case when files filed by both parties contained AI-fabricated legal citations. Aycock’s attorneys were also fined a total of $8,000 and two of them were banned from practicing before the court for two years.
The issue is not limited to the United States. There are more than 1,600 court decisions worldwide related to AI hallucinations in legal filings, according to a database. Maintained By a legal researcher Damien Charlottein.
Garfield’s result demonstrates the potential and limitations of this technology. The case involved a straightforward debt dispute, the kind of well-defined, routine matter for which AI document preparation may be well suited. However, complex litigation and areas requiring interpretive legal judgment remain largely outside the scope of current AI law tools.
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