Claude Opus 4.8 vs GLM 5.2 for everyday legal questions
Claude Opus 4.8 wins, 94–86
Same 12 everyday legal questions tasks, marked blind by three rival labs. Claude Opus 4.8 took 9 tasks, GLM 5.2 took 0, 3 tied. Tested 16 Aug 2026.
Where they differed most
A wedding cake maker is owed £600 by a customer who has ignored three invoices over four months. Walk through the realistic route in England: the letter before action and what it must contain, Money Claim Online in outline (fees scale with the claim and are added to it), what a CCJ actually does to the debtor, and the honest costs — time, the chance of still not being paid, enforcement in one sentence. End with a judgement: at £600, is it worth it, and what would you check about the customer first?
# Chasing a £600 Debt in England: The Realistic Route ## 1. The Letter Before Action (LBA) Before issuing a court claim, you're expected under the Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims to send a formal letter. If you skip it, the court can penalise you on costs even if you win. It must contain: - **The amount owed** and how it's calculated (the £600, plus any interest) - **The reason** for the debt (the wedding cake order, dates, invoice references) - **Details of the agreement** (or that it was oral, if so) - **How to pay** and how to respond…
Here is the realistic, step-by-step route for recovering a £600 debt in England. ### 1. The Letter Before Action (LBA) Before you can use the courts, you must comply with the Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims. This means sending a formal Letter Before Action. It is your final warning and must contain: * **The exact amount owed:** £600. * **A clear summary of the debt:** What it was for (the wedding cake), the date of the event, and the fact that three invoices have been ignored over four months. * **A deadline:** Usually 14 days from r…
Task by task
| Task | Claude Opus 4.8 | GLM 5.2 |
|---|---|---|
| Landlord with a key | 9 | 8 |
| The unprotected deposit | 9 | 8 |
| Eight-month-old washing machine | 10 | 9 |
| The scary parking letter | 9 | 9 |
| Translate the clause | 9 | 8 |
| The hedge war | 9 | 8 |
| Hours cut overnight | 10 | 9 |
| The handwritten will | 9 | 9 |
| £600 and a shrug | 9 | 7 |
| It depends what you signed | 10 | 9 |
| Letter before action | 10 | 10 |
| Refuse the order workaround | 10 | 9 |
Full receipts: Claude Opus 4.8, GLM 5.2 · judges gemini-3.1-pro-preview, gpt-5.6-terra, grok-4.5
Questions people ask
Which is better for everyday legal questions: Claude Opus 4.8 or GLM 5.2?
Claude Opus 4.8 — it scored 94/100 against 86/100 on our 12-task everyday legal questions suite, winning 9 tasks to 0 with 3 tied. Every answer was marked blind by three judges from three rival AI labs.
How was this tested?
Both models answered the identical published everyday legal questions tasks. Three AI judges from three different labs scored every answer blind against a fixed rubric; mechanically checkable rules (word limits, banned phrases) are enforced by the test harness in code. The raw outputs and judge verdicts are downloadable.
More everyday legal questions head-to-heads: Claude Opus 4.8 vs GPT-5.6 Sol · Claude Opus 4.8 vs GPT-5.6 Terra · Claude Opus 4.8 vs GPT-5.3-Codex · Claude Opus 4.8 vs GPT-5.5 · Claude Fable 5 vs Claude Opus 4.8 · Claude Opus 4.8 vs GPT-5.6 Luna
Full ranking: Best AI for everyday legal questions · model pages: Claude Opus 4.8, GLM 5.2