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DefendThis is an online employment defence platform for small businesses. When a tribunal claim lands, the business uploads its documents, completes a structured AI interview, and receives a professionally drafted Grounds of Resistance and a Matters to Consider document — both for a flat fee of £150.
As the case progresses, DefendThis can draft witness statements and letters to the claimant. It is not a one-time document tool. It is ongoing support through the life of the claim, at a fraction of the cost of conventional legal representation.
The AI is a specialist large language model trained by ranked employment barristers and employment tribunal judges. It does not work like a general chatbot. It probes, it challenges, it identifies gaps. It works the way a barrister prepares a witness.
Employment tribunal claims are rising sharply. The 2023/24 year saw 97,000 claims submitted — up 13% on the year before. In 2024/25, single claim receipts reached 42,000, with overall tribunal receipts up 11% year-on-year. The backlog is growing. The pressure on small businesses is growing with it.
Most of those respondents are small businesses without HR departments, without retained solicitors, and without any structured way to respond. They either pay thousands to a solicitor or they file a response that does not reflect the strength of their position.
When an employment claim arrives, most small businesses have no idea how to respond. They either ignore it — which courts treat very badly — or they call a solicitor and watch costs accumulate. The average defended employment tribunal case costs between £8,000 and £25,000 in legal fees before the hearing is listed.
Many businesses settle claims that have no merit simply because fighting costs more than giving in. Claimants know this. Some rely on it.
DefendThis changes that calculation. A business with a properly prepared, lawyer-trained AI-drafted defence, a clean evidence bundle, and a structured account of events is a fundamentally different proposition to one that cannot afford to respond at all.
"Most employers pay out not because they were wrong, but because fighting costs more than giving in. DefendThis exists to change that."
DefendThis takes a small business from receiving an employment tribunal claim to a professionally drafted, legally structured response — in under 24 hours, for a flat fee of £150. The process is entirely online. No office appointments. No waiting for callbacks.
| Stage | Action | Output |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Claim intake — upload the ET1 and ACAS certificate | Claim analysis and deadline confirmation |
| 2 | Document upload — contracts, records, correspondence | Indexed bundle with gap analysis |
| 3 | AI interview — structured, recorded, probing | Full transcribed account |
| 4 | AI drafts both documents. Business signs attestation. | Grounds of Resistance + Matters to Consider (£150) |
| 5 | Optional solicitor review via referral partner | Lawyer-reviewed submission at low fixed fee |
| 6 | Ongoing case support as matter progresses | Witness statements, letters to claimant, case management |
The business uploads the ET1 claim form and ACAS early conciliation certificate. The AI reads both documents and produces an immediate plain-English analysis: the type of claim, the legal basis being relied on, the specific allegations made, and — critically — what the response deadline is. The 28-day window starts running from the date the tribunal sends the ET1. DefendThis flags this immediately.
The business then uploads its own documents: employment contract, disciplinary records, meeting notes, performance reviews, correspondence, payslips. DefendThis organises and indexes everything automatically. It then runs a gap analysis: missing disciplinary procedure, absent dismissal letter, undocumented performance concerns. These gaps are identified before the interview, not discovered by the other side at the hearing.
A bad claim identified early saves significant cost and anxiety. A procedural defect spotted before filing the response changes the shape of the whole case.
The AI contacts the business — by phone or Microsoft Teams — and conducts a structured, recorded interview. This is the heart of the process, and it is what distinguishes DefendThis from any document-drafting tool.
The interview follows a protocol developed by ranked employment barristers. It takes the factual chronology, identifies decision-makers, establishes the reason for any dismissal or disciplinary action — and then it challenges. Where the account is inconsistent with the documents, the AI presses for an explanation. Where a gap exists, it asks why. Where the business says one thing but the dismissal letter says another, it does not move on. It probes until the account is coherent or the inconsistency is recorded.
This is the equivalent of a barrister preparing a witness before tribunal. The interview is transcribed automatically and forms the foundation of the drafted response.
For £150 — paid before the interview — the business receives two documents. Both are produced from the same interview and the same uploaded materials.
Before the documents are produced, the business signs an attestation on the platform confirming that the facts asserted are true. The document belongs to them. They can do what they choose with it. The platform recommends a review with a partner solicitor.
The business can submit the Grounds of Resistance directly — it is their document and they can do what they choose with it. Or they can be referred to a partner solicitor who works with DefendThis.
That solicitor receives something no cold referral produces: a neat file of facts, an indexed evidence bundle, a transcribed account, a drafted Grounds of Resistance, and a Matters to Consider document that identifies the areas requiring legal attention. The work is done. They can offer a low fixed fee because the preparation time is already accounted for.
As the matter progresses beyond the initial response — preliminary hearings, disclosure, witness evidence — DefendThis continues to assist. It can draft witness statements and correspondence to the claimant. The business is not abandoned after stage one. It is supported through the life of the claim.
Total cost with solicitor review: £350 to £550, against a market rate of £8,000 to £25,000 for a conventionally managed claim.
Most employment tribunal claims do not end at the Grounds of Resistance. There are preliminary hearings, disclosure obligations, witness statements to prepare, and often a period of correspondence with the claimant or their solicitor before the final hearing. DefendThis supports the business through all of it.
Witness statements can be drafted through the same interview process — the AI interviews the relevant witnesses, structures their account, and produces a draft statement ready for review. Correspondence to the claimant or ACAS can be drafted to the same standard. The goal is to keep the business out of the hands of expensive solicitors for as long as the case allows, while ensuring that when a solicitor is needed, the file is in perfect order.
The proposition is simple: DefendThis helps you resolve your employment claim for less, and get back to running your business.
Any platform can claim to use AI. The differentiator is credibility. DefendThis is being built with a named panel of ranked employment barristers and employment tribunal judges. They are not anonymous advisers. They are identifiable professionals with regulatory obligations and reputations to protect.
Panel members train the AI in recognised employment law reasoning, structured around how tribunal judges actually weigh evidence and decide cases. That is not a generic language model. It is a system built to the standard of professional legal practice in the Employment Tribunal. Their names appear on the platform.
The moat is not the technology. The technology is commercially available. The moat is the people. A competitor cannot replicate a named panel of ranked employment lawyers and tribunal judges overnight.
The first use of funding is panel recruitment. Twenty to thirty named employment barristers and tribunal judges, each with a small equity stake, each with their name on the platform. That is the quality guarantee and the competitive barrier in one.
Gus Baker is self-employed and can dedicate as much time to this as required without a salary draw. His practice provides income while the platform is built. Both founders have the legal knowledge to train the AI correctly and the professional contacts to recruit the panel.
DefendThis is not a law firm and does not need to be. It does not conduct litigation, exercise rights of audience, or provide legal advice in the reserved sense under the Legal Services Act 2007. It prepares documents, organises evidence, and produces structured written materials based on the information the business provides. The Matters to Consider document is phrased as questions, not assertions. It explicitly signposts the need for full legal advice.
The platform does not retain any data. All case materials — uploaded documents, interview transcripts, and drafted outputs — are deleted within 15 days of the case being completed.
The documents produced are likely protected by litigation privilege. The ET1 has landed, proceedings are in reasonable contemplation, and the dominant purpose of the interview and the documents produced from it is preparation for those proceedings. Litigation privilege is not confined to lawyer-client communications — it extends to materials prepared by third parties in contemplation of litigation.
The regulatory and data positions were designed from the outset by a practising employment barrister. They are not retrofitted compliance. They are part of the architecture.
The domain is live. The process is designed in full. The demonstration materials — a complete defence package for a complex fictional employment claim — are complete. David Green is involved in the project.
Before incorporating and committing fully to build, we are seeking conversations with early-stage funders. The technical build is not complex: document intake and indexing, an AI reasoning engine built on commercially available models and trained on employment law, a structured interview module, a drafting workflow, and a solicitor referral system. None of this is novel technology.
The first use of funding is panel recruitment. A credible named panel of ranked employment barristers and tribunal judges changes this from a document to a business. That is what the first round secures.
Claimants have had free structured legal support from ACAS and trade unions for decades. Employers — particularly small businesses — have had nothing equivalent. DefendThis levels the playing field. That is not a controversial proposition. It is an access to justice argument. Contact Gus Baker at [email protected] to start the conversation.