The first SRA-authorised AI law firm helps a freelancer win £7,000 at trial

June 2026 — A freelancer who used an AI law firm to chase an unpaid bill won £7,000 at trial and saw off a counterclaim. Here's what the AI did, what it cost, and what went wrong.

Cost and outcome (as of June 23, 2026)

Outcome: the court found for the claimant, awarding £7,000 and dismissing the counterclaim. (Law Gazette)
Cost: the claimant paid "around £400 in Garfield AI fees," the company says. (Garfield AI)
Company's claim: more than 600 claims started and more than £500,000 "recovered or resolved" for users. (Garfield AI)
Status: the judgment has not been published. (Law Gazette)

The case

Tamires Camal Taquidir, a freelancer, had provided HR-related services to a hospitality business and was not paid, Garfield said. She used Garfield to write the pre-action letters and to prepare and issue court proceedings, the Law Gazette reported.

The defendant hired solicitors and brought a counterclaim, Garfield said. The claim "arose out of an oral agreement said to have been reached between the parties at a bar in Kensington some years earlier," according to One Essex Court, the barristers' chambers involved. Both the existence and the terms of that deal were disputed.

Garfield handled disclosure, four witness statements and the trial bundle, the company said. Shortly before trial it instructed Dominic Li, a first-year tenant at One Essex Court. After a three-hour hearing at Wandsworth County Court, in which both sides had counsel, the court found for Taquidir, the Gazette reported. Wandsworth County Court sits at 76-78 Upper Richmond Road, Putney, SW15 2SU, according to HMCTS's court finder. Garfield dates the trial to May 14; the chambers says judgment was reserved.

"Garfield AI's preparation helped ensure the case was presented clearly and efficiently, while the advocacy at trial remained essential and a fundamentally human exercise," Li said in Garfield's release.

"AI did not replace the judge, the barrister or the legal system," said Philip Young, Garfield's chief executive, per the Gazette.

"When the counterclaim was brought, it was intended to intimidate me, but I knew I had accessible, cost effective, and competent support," Taquidir said in Garfield's release.

Garfield says claims on its platform range "from around £30 to £10,000." "We are still at the beginning of this journey," said Daniel Long, its chief technology officer.

How the regulator let it in

The Solicitors Regulation Authority authorised Garfield.Law in May 2025 as "the first purely AI-based firm" it had approved to provide regulated legal services in England and Wales.

The SRA said it checked how the firm would quality-check work, protect confidentiality and avoid conflicts. "The system will not be able to propose relevant case law, which is a high-risk area for large language model machine learning," the regulator said. Garfield "is not autonomous and will only take a step where the client has approved it," and named solicitors "will also be responsible for all the system outputs and for anything that goes wrong."

"The risks around an AI-driven law firm are novel," said Paul Philip, the SRA's chief executive.

At launch, the firm focused on debts up to £10,000, with costs starting at £2 for a "polite chaser" letter, the Gazette reported.

What went wrong

The AI could not do the hearing. Garfield had to bring in a barrister shortly before trial; the company calls oral advocacy a job for humans.
Results are self-reported. The 600-plus claims, £500,000 "recovered or resolved" and £400 fee come from Garfield alone.
Hallucination risk was designed around, not solved. The SRA barred the system from proposing case law.
What we don't know yet: what the judgment says, what the barrister cost and who paid, and how many Garfield claims have failed.

Our follow-up question for Garfield AI

Of the 600-plus claims started, how many were lost, abandoned or needed a human lawyer to step in?

Sources

Law Gazette, John Hyde, “AI-powered law firm claims first county court victory,” June 23, 2026. lawgazette.co.uk
One Essex Court, “One Essex Court junior secures victory in the first contested trial won with the support of a regulated AI law firm,” June 23, 2026. oeclaw.co.uk
Garfield AI, “AI Lawyer in Historic First Court Trial Win,” June 22, 2026. garfield.law
Solicitors Regulation Authority, “SRA approves first AI-driven law firm,” May 6, 2025. sra.org.uk
Law Gazette, Michael Cross, “SRA approves '£2 letter' AI law firm Garfield,” May 6, 2025. lawgazette.co.uk
Garfield AI, “Garfield AI becomes first SRA authorised legal AI,” May 5, 2025. garfield.law
HM Courts & Tribunals Service, “Wandsworth County Court and Family Court,” court finder. find-court-tribunal.service.gov.uk

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