A certification for practicing attorneys who use AI, supervise people who use it, or answer for its output. Twenty-seven lessons and a capstone across six domains, an examination built to a published standard, and a credential anyone can verify. Open to attorneys nationwide.
Courts have sanctioned attorneys in dozens of cases for filing AI-fabricated citations, and the State Bar of California has begun bringing disciplinary prosecutions arising from AI misuse in practice. The duty of technology competence is now the standard against which that conduct is measured, in ethics opinions, in sanctions orders, and in malpractice exposure.
AGL equips an attorney to meet that standard with a defined, examined, and verifiable body of knowledge.
Published page cites: State Bar of California enforcement actions · ABA Formal Opinion 512 · sanctions orders
An AGL holder has demonstrated, by examination, the ability to govern AI use in a law practice: how the tools work and where they fail, what the rules of professional conduct require when they are used, how to verify output before it reaches a court or a client, and how to supervise people and systems under a written governance framework.
Video instruction with on-screen citations, readings, and working templates, including a verification protocol and a vendor-terms checklist built for immediate use in practice. The curriculum holds itself to the discipline the credential teaches: every factual claim in every lesson is verified against primary sources before it is taught.
Each candidate sits a 40-item examination drawn from a documented bank of 70 items, assembled to the published domain weights with question and answer order randomized. The California endorsement adds a 16-item examination on California-specific obligations. The passing score is derived through a documented standard-setting exercise, item by item, and published with the standard. One retake is included with registration, available within 14 days of an unsuccessful attempt and drawn freshly from the bank; further attempts are purchased separately.
All enrollments are final; fees are non-refundable.
California MCLE status: the Institute's provider accreditation with the State Bar of California is in progress. MCLE credit attaches only to course completions after approval issues; completions before that date earn the AGL and AGL-CA credentials but not California MCLE credit.
Practicing attorneys in any U.S. jurisdiction: solo practitioners and firm lawyers who use AI tools, managing partners responsible for firm policy, and supervising attorneys who answer for the work of people and systems using AI. It assumes no technical background.
The course is self-paced. Most attorneys should expect approximately five to six hours of video instruction and readings, plus examination time, completed on any schedule.
The credential carries a one-year currency. Annual recertification is $250, covers the core credential and all held endorsements, and includes the update module covering what changed in the law and the technology. A 60-day grace period follows expiry at the standard fee; renewal from day 61 to six months carries a $100 late fee alongside the update module; a credential lapsed beyond six months must be re-earned in full.
No. AGL is a private professional certification. It attests to examined knowledge against the Institute's published standard. It is not a license, not legal advice, and not an endorsement by any bar or regulator.