The Solari Institute

The Solari Standard

A published body of knowledge stating what a practitioner certified in AI governance must know and be able to do. The Standard is what the Institute's examinations are built to, and it is written to be read by the firms, clients, and courts that rely on the credential.

Version 2026.1 Public and versioned Revised at least annually
The Premise

A credential is only as good as the standard behind it.

A certification that does not publish its body of knowledge asks to be taken on faith. The Solari Standard is published in full, including the weight each domain carries on the examination, so that the credential can be evaluated on its contents rather than on the assurance of the body issuing it.

The Standard is scoped to governance. It covers the duties, frameworks, statutes, and firm-level controls that make AI use defensible in professional practice. It does not teach prompt technique, and it does not review tools.

How It Works

Three properties define the Standard

Published
Readable by the people who rely on it
The domains, their scope, and their examination weights are stated on this page. A managing partner evaluating the credential can read what it certifies before an attorney enrolls.
Versioned
Dated, numbered, and superseded in the open
Each release carries a version number, and every certificate records the version it was examined against. A credential earned under 2026.1 states so, which keeps an older credential legible rather than ambiguous.
Maintained
Revised on a discipline, not on demand
A monthly tracking discipline follows developments in AI law and professional regulation, and produces at least one versioned revision each year. Holders maintain currency through the annual update module.
Version 2026.1
The National Core: six domains

The core body of knowledge for AI Governance in Law, weighted by share of the examination. The weights are the blueprint. An examination form drawn from the item bank is built to these proportions, so the emphasis a candidate encounters is the emphasis stated here.

I
Foundations: AI systems, agents, and failure modes
How the systems work in the terms a practitioner needs, and more importantly how they fail. Fabrication, silent error, drift, and the distinct risks introduced when a system is permitted to act rather than only to answer.
10%
of the exam
II
Professional responsibility in AI use
The duties that attach the moment a tool touches a matter: competence, confidentiality, communication, candor to the tribunal, supervision of subordinate lawyers and nonlawyer assistance, and fees. It carries the largest weight because it is where the exposure sits.
30%
of the exam
III
The firm's AI governance program
Building the program rather than reading about one. The NIST AI Risk Management Framework and ISO/IEC 42001 concepts, the governing instruments a firm needs in writing, and the vendor and incident controls that make a policy operate rather than sit in a binder.
20%
of the exam
IV
The law governing the lawyer's own AI use
Taught as a map and a method for reading a statute, not as a snapshot that expires. The firm is treated as the regulated party, which is the posture most practitioners have not been trained to take about their own practice.
15%
of the exam
V
AI work product: verification, ownership, privilege, and records
What has to happen between a model's output and a filing or a client deliverable. Verification that holds up, who owns the result, whether privilege survives the tool, and what the record must show afterward.
15%
of the exam
VI
Court-facing and litigation use
Standing orders and disclosure regimes, certification obligations, the sanctions record, and how to run an AI-assisted matter so that the process survives being examined by an opposing party or a court.
10%
of the exam

Human rights due diligence runs through the Standard as a connecting thread rather than as a separate domain. Where an AI system affects people who are not the client, the diligence question is a governance question, and the Standard treats it as one.

Jurisdiction Endorsements

The national core is extended jurisdiction by jurisdiction.

An endorsement extends the Standard to one jurisdiction's discipline machinery, professional conduct rules, statutes, and court requirements. Each is versioned separately from the core, so an amendment in one legislature revises one endorsement rather than forcing the whole credential to be reissued.

Every course is issued as a professional certification. The Institute makes no continuing legal education claim in any jurisdiction until that jurisdiction's approval is in hand.

AGL National Core
The six domains above and the core examination. Open to attorneys in any United States jurisdiction, and the prerequisite for every endorsement.
California Endorsement
California's discipline machinery, its professional responsibility rules as applied to AI, its AI statute stack, and California Rule of Court 10.430. Enrollment is open, and provider accreditation with the State Bar of California is in progress.
UAE Endorsement
The federal, free-zone, sector, and judicial layers of the UAE's AI regulatory architecture, including DIFC Regulation 10 and the DIFC Courts' guidance on generative AI in proceedings. Enrollment opens on release.
London Endorsement
England and Wales, following the same structure. The body of knowledge is in development and the endorsement is not yet issued.
Assessment

How the Standard is examined

The credential attests to a passed examination, not to attendance. Everything below is stated publicly so that a candidate knows the terms before enrolling and a firm evaluating the credential knows what was tested.

The Form
Forty items, blueprinted
The core examination is a forty-item form drawn from a larger bank, scenario-heavy multiple choice, built to the domain weights published above. The California endorsement examination is sixteen items across its examinable units.
The Cut
Seventy-five percent to pass
Thirty of forty on the core, twelve of sixteen on the California endorsement. A failed attempt carries one included retake within fourteen days, with items presented in randomized order.
The Record
An exportable audit trail
Pass or fail, score, item responses, and time in content are recorded and exportable. This is the evidence an accreditor or a bar will ask for, and it is kept from the first candidate forward rather than reconstructed later.

Examination conditions: the examination is currently unproctored and open book. The Institute states this rather than leave it to be inferred, because a standard that misrepresents its own assessment conditions cannot serve as one. Proctoring is a later step, and the version record will show when it changes.

Governance of the Standard

Who owns it, and how it is allowed to change.

The Standard is owned and versioned by the Solari Institute. It is issued in the Institute's name rather than any individual's, which is what allows it to outlast the people who wrote it and to be handed to a successor without losing authority.

Revision runs on a discipline. A monthly tracking process follows developments in AI law, professional regulation, and the technology, and feeds at least one versioned revision each year. A revision does not silently rewrite history. The prior version remains identified, every certificate records the version it was examined against, and holders maintain currency through the annual update module.

The Institute is a private certifying body, aligned to the practice described in ASTM E2659 for assessment-based certificate programs. It is not a bar association, not a regulator, and not an accreditor, and it claims no continuing legal education credit in any jurisdiction until that jurisdiction's approval has issued.

View the certification About the Institute
Common Questions

Yes. This page publishes the Standard's scope, its six domains, and the examination weights each domain carries. That is the part a firm, a client, or a court needs in order to judge what the credential certifies. The readings, worked examples, and templates that teach the Standard are delivered inside the certification.

The Solari Institute. The Standard is issued in the Institute's name, not an individual's, and the Institute holds the revision authority. Certification and advisory work are kept separate in both directions: earning the credential never requires engaging Solari as an advisor.

At least once a year, fed by a monthly tracking discipline covering AI law, professional regulation, and the technology. Each release is numbered and dated. Jurisdiction endorsements are versioned separately from the national core, so a change in one jurisdiction revises one endorsement rather than the whole credential.

The Institute is a private certifying body operating an assessment-based certificate program aligned to ASTM E2659 practice. It is not accredited by a bar association or a regulator. Continuing legal education accreditation is pursued jurisdiction by jurisdiction, and no CLE, MCLE, or CLPD credit is claimed anywhere until that jurisdiction's approval has issued.

Nothing retroactive. Your certificate records the version you were examined against, and that record stands. Currency is maintained through annual recertification, which covers the core credential and every endorsement you hold and includes the update module for what changed. Fee terms are published on the certification page.