When Lucy returned from maternity leave to find her employer would no longer let her work from home, she swiftly turned to ChatGPT. “It was a godsend,” she says. “I needed help to build a case — solicitors aren’t cheap.”
The project manager also paid for some legal advice to help her negotiate a payout, just in time to avoid going to a tribunal. But without AI, she says she would not have managed to gather evidence, raise a grievance and pressure her employer — a civil engineering firm — to come to the table.
Lucy, who spoke under a pseudonym to avoid repercussions in a new job, is far from alone. UK lawyers say the use of AI to research the law, draft documents, evaluate employers’ arguments and prepare responses has become ubiquitous in the employment tribunal system. Many of them are in despair at the effects.