In May 2025, Garfield.Law received approval from the Solicitors Regulation Authority, the authority that oversees the solicitor profession in England and Wales. This AI-driven platform, designed for low-value disputes, enables private individuals to initiate collection proceedings on their own: it generates the documents, assembles the case file and accompanies the litigant all the way to the hearing. All this, for debts of up to £10,000, without any human adviser being involved - a strong first signal for those involved in the law.

A parallel can be drawn with Luxembourg. Among the powers conferred on the justice of the peace is the handling of civil and commercial disputes up to the value of 15,000 euros. The procedure is oral, and representation by a lawyer remains optional. This framework does not rule out, in time, the emergence of automated assistance tools of the same type as Garfield.Law.

The possibility of using AI is not confined to the courtroom. In everyday practice, AI is already helping practitioners to draft clauses, generate memos, extract key data and review legal opinions. These functions are provided by specialised AI or conversational assistants - Copilot and others - integrated into work environments. We are no longer talking about isolated experiments: these uses are being deployed, standardised and redesigning the production chain.

Effectively using these tools, however, requires more than a simple activation click. You have to learn how to work with AI, define its scope and check its reliability. The benefits are clear: time savings, standardisation, increased capacity. The limitations, however, remain real: hallucinations, bias, rigidity of reasoning, uncertainty about sources. No algorithm can detect the subtlety of a context, perceive the intention of an opposing party, or take ultimate responsibility for a strategic decision.

In the meantime, the regulatory framework is becoming clearer. European Regulation No. 1689 laying down harmonised rules on artificial intelligence - the AI Act - is now in force, and Luxembourg Bill No. 8476 aims to define the contours of its application in the Grand Duchy. However, the transition remains essentially operational: it depends on the practical appropriation of the technology by legal professionals.

By training teams, appointing referents, laying down clear rules of use and testing concrete scenarios, AI can become a strategic lever rather than a risk factor. Some companies have already begun this transition, with awareness-raising sessions, the dissemination of best practices and the empowerment of legal experts in the validation of content generated. This momentum now deserves to be consolidated.

From this perspective, the idea that AI might replace the lawyer does not hold water. In fact, the opposite is true: a synergy is emerging. AI encourages lawyers to refocus on what makes them valuable - rigour, analysis and a sense of responsibility.

This article was first published by Paperjam.