Law Without Lawyers? Meet Grapple – Artificial Lawyer

Is this the future of law for millions of people? Grapple is an AI-based legal services provider that proudly announces that it ‘does not have any lawyers’, yet has just been mentioned in the national press for helping someone win their employment claim.

They note that they are not regulated, so it really is not ‘a law firm’, but that ‘If you’ve hit a wall with the system, Grapple Law gives you the tools to fight back’.

This has been seen before. We already have Contend, which does something similar to Grapple and provides an AI-driven interface that helps you to draft legal letters and claims.

In Grapple’s case, they’ll send the letters for you and tell you how much your claim may be worth, if you provide them with the correct information. Grapple then takes a cut of the payout if successful.

The Mirror, a mainstay of the UK’s tabloid press, noted that the claimant in question had ‘her case resolved and she won £30,000 – without a tribunal or human lawyer in sight’. Of course, one would guess the employer possibly had a lawyer involved.

But, either way, a person makes a claim against an employer, uses no human lawyer, sends legal correspondence, the defendant gives in and pays out, all without the claimant being advised by a professional.

Is this the way things will be now? In fact, some might say that plenty of litigants in person are already doing this any way, by tapping ChatGPT. Grapple is just putting this approach into a more formalised legal context – yet remains outside of the formal ‘law firm world’.

It’s also – perhaps a surprise to some – run by a lawyer, Alex Monaco (pictured), who is the chairman of his own law firm in London.

Here’s a video of how it works:

The main issue here is: what happens when the matter needs human input? What if the employer says: ‘No way, we are going to fight this all the way to the Supreme Court!’ Then you need a law firm.

So, is this a ‘good thing’?

Well, it comes back to the ‘Access to Justice With AI is Better Than No Justice’ argument. Is a legal AI bot with no lawyers better than nothing at all? Grapple would say yes, and presumably many of those it’s helped would say the same. Of course, lawyers will perhaps reply: ‘If you had used us we would have made much more of your claim, and if it had gone to court or a tribunal we would have represented you. We would also have provided a very human, professional, regulated – and insured – guiding legal hand all the way through this complicated process.’

It’s a hard one.

Also, this is possible in the UK because sending legal letters in this way and advising on legal rights is not a ‘reserved activity’. That may not be the same in all countries.

Regardless, it seems like more people will use AI chatbots for their legal needs. Why? Because working with lawyers seems – for most regular folks – to be slow, expensive, and frankly a bit intimidating. Is it any surprise then that Grapple is getting customers?

One last question: for now this is aimed at ‘the High Street’, but would a more corporate model work? Grapple notes that it won’t work for businesses, but how long before something more comprehensive comes to market that offers a much deeper and more complex service for commercial legal needs – and also without any lawyers present? And one could perhaps say that the partnership between Perplexity and LegalZoom is already doing that, although it seems like Grapple’s approach goes further than that tie-up.

P.S. AL would not put this in the NewMod group. Why? Because NewMods are a mix of AI and legal experts working together, i.e. a law firm without so much leverage. Grapple and Contend are skipping the lawyer part entirely. Maybe we can call them ‘All AI’ legal providers.

What do you think?

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More here about Grapple.

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IMPORTANT NOTE: this news story is not legal advice, nor is it an endorsement of any of the companies mentioned above. This news article is for informational purposes only.