Top 10 Reasons Why You Shouldn't Use AI to Defend Against a Debt Collection Lawsuit
I am frequently contacted by people who have used AI to represent themselves in a debt collection lawsuit. I've outlined the top 10 reasons why I never recommend this route below.
It's very likely that you will get a worse outcome, which means you will lose more of your money.
Starting with the most important consideration and for all the reasons articulated below, it's very likely that the case outcome will be worse for you than if you had hired an attorney to represent you. A worse outcome almost always means a higher judgment or settlement amount with a plaintiff than what you would have been able to get with an attorney. Attorney fees for simple debt collection cases can be very reasonable, and it is very possible to save money by defending against a lawsuit with an attorney.
AI frequently makes mistakes and can't be trusted for legal advice.
Like almost everyone else, I have occasionally used AI for general queries, including some related to legal issues. I frequently get inconsistent, contradictory, and sometimes just completely false information. As an example, AI has advised me that the statute of limitations for a debt collection claim in Ohio is 8 years. This is wrong. It's 6 years. I know this because I practice in this area and have been trained to read statutes and cases; if you're just relying entirely on AI output for legal advice, it is very likely you will be misguided or given completely different information even if you provide the exact same prompt multiple times.
The letter of the law isn't always a simple as it might seem.
AI might correctly direct you to text of a law like the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and tell you that you have a claim against a debt collector. For example, the text of the statute might include a prohibition on abusive conduct. You - or your AI - might think that something that a debt collector did is abusive, and you might be correct, but reading statutes is rarely such an easy and straightforward exercise. What constitutes "abusive" might be defined elsewhere in the statute, it might have been defined in case law, or the statute might require you to take an action with a debt collector before the filing of a lawsuit, among many other possibilities. It is very unlikely that AI will holistically understand a statute in a way that is necessary to effectively protect your rights.
Putting the law into practice requires more than the letter of the law to be effective.
Even if AI can correctly help you to identify a counterclaim or that a motion needs to be filed, it is incredibly unlikely that AI will be able to help you actually execute any necessary steps to put that knowledge into practice. If you have a counterclaim, how do you assert it in a legal filing? All motions require a memorandum of law to be attached; will AI know this as well as how to write it? In addition to the law at issue, AI would need to understand both the rules of evidence and civil procedure in order to effectively guide you in preparing defenses or asserting claims; this is significantly harder than just reading the rules of a statute.
AI can't represent you in settlement negotiations, a pretrial hearing, or a trial.
As helpful as AI might seem, I have never seen one be able to engage in negotiations with an opposing party, and no judge would ever consent to a bot representing a party in a court proceeding. Almost all debt collection cases are referred to mediation, have pretrial hearings in front of a judge, or lead to a trial. You will need a human lawyer to represent you competently at any of those steps of the legal process.
It costs more and is harder to find/hire an attorney after litigation has started, especially if you have used AI to represent yourself.
Some people reach out to me after they have represented themselves with AI for the initial stages of a case. They are often surprised to learn that it is more expensive and difficult to hire an attorney after litigation has already started. This is because there are more materials that attorneys have to review to take on the case, important defenses or procedural options might have been lost, responses to discovery might be significantly less favorable than if they had been prepared with an attorney, etc. I strongly encourage all people to reach out to an attorney immediately; if you think you can save money by doing some parts of the case yourself, it's very likely that simply isn't true.
It will take more of your time to represent yourself with AI.
If you hire an attorney, basically all the work will be done for you by the attorney. I update my clients every week as to the status of their case, and I handle almost every aspect of litigation as a part of my job. Even with the most helpful AI out there, a person representing him or herself will have to commit a significant amount of time to trying to learn the law, preparing court documents, properly serving them on opposing parties, keeping track of the court docket, completing required actions for the court's timeline, etc. When you consider the time commitment along with the likelihood that you will also have a worse outcome, trying to use AI to represent yourself just isn't a good idea.
You get no advice or experience with the judge, court system, or opposing parties.
I have handled over 100 debt collection cases. As a result, I have familiarity with judges, the court system, and many debt collectors who file the most lawsuits. That is experience and expertise that no AI can provide. If you have questions as to how something might play out, whether an opposing party might be open to negotiation, how long a case might take to litigate, etc., no AI will be able to help you with anything more than a generic suggestion. Obviously no attorney can ever guarantee an outcome to any case, but attorneys who practice frequently in an area of law do learn about the players and the system involved.
You have to upload extremely sensitive documents and personal information into AI to get help with legal matters.
If you want to do anything more than file a simple answer to a lawsuit, you will need to provide or upload copies of incredibly sensitive information into an AI in order for it to try to help you. In a typical debt collection case, this might include months of alleged credit card bills, address information, contracts with financial institutions, etc. If you value your privacy or want to protect any of that information from the public, sharing it with AI is a bad idea. Information shared with AI can be discoverable by an opposing party, which can be embarrassing and could compromise your defense. Attorneys are trained to routinely collect and protect sensitive information, and any documents or conversations you have with your attorney are protected from opposing parties by ethics rules.
Judges and opposing attorneys can immediately tell if you've used AI to prepare court filings.
Through no fault of their own, any time a person who isn't trained in the law files a document with the court, it is immediately apparent to judges and opposing counsel that either AI has been used or that the person isn't familiar with the law. Attorneys go to school for 3 years and pass a comprehensive exam before they can practice; it's simply not possible for a person who doesn't have that background to be able to prepare the same quality of written documents. Because of this, judges and opposing attorneys can be very cynical of parties who are using AI to represent themselves, and it's very likely to negatively affect the outcome of your case. If you don't truly understand the law or the system - and your AI doesn't either - it's very likely that you're simply wasting your own time along with the court's time. This can lead to a worse outcome and incremental costs, such as attorney's fees or other court-related costs, being awarded to a plaintiff that might not happen otherwise if you had an attorney.
It is understandably tempting to want to use AI to defend against a debt collection lawsuit. It might seem straightforward and a way for you to save money. In practice, however, the best way to try to save your money, your time, and your sanity is simply to hire an attorney.
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