Immediate release
London, UK, 21 October 2025 - Garfield, the world's first SRA-regulated AI law firm, featured on Channel 4's Dispatches: Will AI Take My Job? in a televised experiment exploring how artificial intelligence can assist in real-world legal work.
The programme ran a unique test, putting Garfield AI head-to-head with a human trainee solicitor in a real debt claim. Each was asked to help a small business owner prepare the legal documents needed to issue a court claim in England and Wales, namely the Claim Form and Particulars of Claim. The challenge tested speed, cost, convenience, quality and client rapport - the day-to-day realities of legal work.
Ready to recover your money?
Start your debt recovery claim in minutes.
The client, Anthony, told the programme that he preferred using Garfield, praising its simplicity and value:
Having a solicitor is great because you have someone to speak to. But if you think of the solicitors' fees, which is quite a lot of money, and then you look at the AI system, which is GBP100, I would definitely opt for the AI.
The Dispatches programme observed that Garfield's "price is extremely reasonable for what it's actually helping with when you think of solicitor fees." The trainee solicitor spent four hours on the case at GBP225 per hour plus VAT, producing a total bill of GBP1,080. Garfield completed the same task in under ten minutes for GBP120.
In total, the trainee solicitor took 20x as long and cost more than 10x as much as Garfield. Unlike the human lawyer, Garfield is also available 24/7.
AI that serves businesses directly and empowers lawyers
Garfield is designed to be used both directly by businesses and by law firms, offering flexible access to business debt recovery for claims of up to GBP10,000. It is already being used by businesses of all shapes and sizes in England and Wales, from sole traders through to large corporations. Businesses can access Garfield directly to recover debts without the traditional complexity or cost.
"We built Garfield to make law faster and fairer for everyone," said Philip Young, co-founder of Garfield. "It's about giving businesses access to professional legal help they can actually afford."
One of the strongest early signals is that many of Garfield's first users have been law firms, who quickly saw how the platform could help them recover both their own debts and those of their clients in a cost-effective and time-efficient way. More on that can be found in Legal Futures' coverage of law firms using Garfield.
Daniel Long, co-founder of Garfield, said: "AI won't replace lawyers, it will free them. Less paperwork, less admin, more problem-solving."
Most interestingly of all, this is not simply AI replacing jobs. Users of Garfield are reporting that by turning unpaid invoices into cash, they are able to expand their businesses and create new jobs.
Dispatches' experiment marks a milestone in the responsible use of AI within the legal profession, demonstrating that technology and human expertise can work together under the oversight of the Solicitors Regulation Authority.
Built for every size of UK business
Garfield AI is designed for every size of UK business, from sole traders chasing a handful of overdue invoices to large corporations managing thousands of accounts. Whether the user is recovering a single debt or running collections at scale, Garfield offers the tools, integrations and automation to match the need.
For businesses with high-volume recovery requirements, Garfield provides a full suite of resources to streamline every stage of the process:
- Bulk claims, zero hassle: upload one invoice or hundreds and Garfield auto-generates the paperwork and court forms.
- Plug in to the tools you already use: one-click integrations with Xero, Sage, QuickBooks and FreeAgent help users import outstanding invoices directly from their ledger.
- Smart risk checks: for company debtors, Garfield queries Companies House in real time, flags insolvency or administration risks and pulls the latest filed accounts so users can assess whether a claim is worth pursuing.
- Regulated and battle-tested: Garfield is the first AI-only law firm authorised by the SRA, bringing automated courtroom compliance to business credit control.
You can find more information about Garfield AI's features, how it works and pricing.
Notes to editors
- The Claim Form is the court form used to begin a claim in the county courts of England and Wales. The Particulars of Claim explains what the case is about. Garfield drafts and files both at court and serves the Particulars of Claim on the debtor for its users.
About Garfield AI
Garfield is a web-based, AI-powered legal assistant that guides a claimant, or their representative, through each step of the small claims court process for debt claims, up to trial. It is the first legal AI platform authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority to deliver regulated legal services and is believed to be the first such law firm anywhere in the world.
Unpaid debts cost UK businesses billions annually, and this problem is made worse by time-consuming legal processes. Garfield AI's streamlined service directly addresses that inefficiency.
Garfield AI's mission is access to justice. To this end, it will be releasing a further suite of products over the coming year. It was founded by Philip Young, a London commercial litigation lawyer formerly of City law firm CYK, who also sits on the Advisory Committee of commercial litigation funder Winward, and Daniel Long, who left his PhD in quantum physics to go all in on Garfield. For more information, visit garfield.law.
