GLM 5.2 vs GPT-5.3-Codex for everyday legal questions

The verdict

GPT-5.3-Codex wins, 9386

Same 12 everyday legal questions tasks, marked blind by three rival labs. GPT-5.3-Codex took 7 tasks, GLM 5.2 took 0, 5 tied. Tested 16 Aug 2026.

Where they differed most

The task — £600 and a shrug

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?

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…
Here’s the **realistic England route** for a £600 unpaid cake invoice.

## 1) Send a proper Letter Before Action (LBA) first
For a business chasing an individual customer, use the **Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims** style letter.

Your letter should include:

- Your business details and the customer’s full name/address  
- The amount owed (£600), what it is for, and invoice dates/numbers  
- What contract/order was made (date, product, delivery date)  
- Any interest/charges claimed (and basis for them)  
- How to pay, and by when  
- A cle…

Task by task

TaskGLM 5.2GPT-5.3-Codex
Landlord with a key89
The unprotected deposit89
Eight-month-old washing machine910
The scary parking letter99
Translate the clause89
The hedge war89
Hours cut overnight99
The handwritten will99
£600 and a shrug79
It depends what you signed99
Letter before action1010
Refuse the order workaround910

Full receipts: GLM 5.2, GPT-5.3-Codex · judges claude-sonnet-5, gemini-3.1-pro-preview, gpt-5.6-terra

Questions people ask

Which is better for everyday legal questions: GLM 5.2 or GPT-5.3-Codex?

GPT-5.3-Codex — it scored 93/100 against 86/100 on our 12-task everyday legal questions suite, winning 7 tasks to 0 with 5 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-5.3-Codex · Claude Opus 4.8 vs GLM 5.2 · GPT-5.3-Codex vs GPT-5.6 Sol · GLM 5.2 vs GPT-5.6 Sol · GPT-5.3-Codex vs GPT-5.6 Terra · GLM 5.2 vs GPT-5.6 Terra

Full ranking: Best AI for everyday legal questions · model pages: GLM 5.2, GPT-5.3-Codex