Generative AI is reshaping both legal practice and legal education, and law schools and the legal community are better equipped to respond when they work together. Attorneys and judges are encountering AI in their courts, firms, and agencies and need grounded, practical guidance on how to use it ethically and effectively. Law schools need to understand what students will face in practice to prepare them well. That exchange, with law schools and the legal community learning from one another, is exactly where law librarians can play a leadership role. The relationship can be genuinely reciprocal, with knowledge, experience, and conversation moving in both directions.

This session offers an overview of the University of Wisconsin Law Library's AI literacy program that has reached audiences ranging from law students and faculty to practicing attorneys, judges, librarians, and the public, teaching each how to integrate AI into their work and lives ethically and effectively. Drawing on years of experience presenting to more than 4,000 learners, the presenters will share a practical framework for designing AI literacy sessions that can be tailored to any audience or skill level. They will illustrate how outreach to attorneys, judges, court administrators, and bar association members strengthens both the program and the profession, and how bringing practitioners into law school classrooms and conversations gives students direct exposure to AI in practice and offers insight into how to prepare graduates for legal practice where AI literacy is expected, not optional.

Those conversations, whether in a courtroom, a bar association meeting, a law school seminar, or a lunch with alumni, strengthen both sides of the relationship and make the legal community, as a whole, better prepared to meet the challenges AI presents.

TARGET AUDIENCE:

This session is designed for law librarians across all settings: private, academic, and government. Whether you are new to AI literacy education or looking to expand your reach, you will leave with practical tools for building connections across the legal community and stepping into a leadership role in AI literacy education.

TAKEAWAYS:

1. Participants will be able to apply a practical framework for designing and adapting AI literacy sessions for a range of legal audiences and skill levels.
2. Participants will learn concrete strategies for building reciprocal relationships between their institutions and the legal community extending AI literacy outreach outward and bringing practitioners into the conversation.
3. Participants will be able to articulate the role law librarians can play as AI literacy leaders and institutional partners across law schools, courts, bar associations, and legal practice settings.

SPEAKERS:

• Bonnie Shucha, Associate Dean and Director of the Law Library, University of Wisconsin Law School
• Kris Turner, Associate Director of Public Services, University of Wisconsin Law Library

AALL BODY OF KNOWLEDGE DOMAINS: Professionalism + Leadership At Every Level, Teaching + Training, Marketing + Outreach

CANCELLATION AND OTHER POLICIES

No refunds will be given for any purchased live AALL webinar. This applies to non-AALL members only as AALL webinars are free for AALL members.

All AALL webinars include live captioning services.

The opinions shared during this program represent the views of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect those of the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL). Recording, capturing, or using AI tools to duplicate, transcribe, or otherwise reproduce an AALL program in any form is strictly prohibited without prior written consent from AALL. This includes, but is not limited to audio, video, or any other content shared. By attending an AALL program or accessing an AALL recording, you agree to adhere to this policy.

This session will feature two presentations centered around AI Agents: 

• (L)SaaS: Librarian Software as a Service
• Building a Reliable AI Agent: What Context Fixed, What Drifted, and Why Librarians Already Have the Core Skill

(L)SaaS: Librarian Software as a Service

This program explores how law librarians can act as “software as a service” providers by combining legal research expertise with practical knowledge of AI tools and vibe coding. Drawing on two examples from the Jameson Law Library—a vibe-coded web scraper created to assist a faculty member and an internal AI agent developed to analyze faculty publication patterns—the program will show how librarians can design practical, targeted technology solutions for their patrons. These examples serve as test cases for the broader potential of (L)SaaS as a model for expanding the role of law librarians in research support and legal technology innovation.

TARGET AUDIENCE:

All types of law librarians.

TAKEAWAYS:

1. Gain an understanding on how AI agents and vibe coding can be used to create useful tools for creating practical Librarian Software.
2. Identify opportunities within their own institutions where librarians can develop targeted technology solutions to support patrons.

SPEAKERS:

• Cody James, Director of the Law Library and Assistant Professor, William J. Jameson Law Library (University of Montana)

AALL BODY OF KNOWLEDGE DOMAINS: Research + Analysis, Information Management

Building a Reliable AI Agent: What Context Fixed, What Drifted, and Why Librarians Already Have the Core Skill

You’ve built your first agent. But how do you know you’ve done it well? This case study walks through best practices in building and testing agents, using a research support agent designed to help researchers respond to law firm research requests. Attendees see the agent in action, the scoring rubric used to evaluate it, and the test results across four versions, from a baseline that invented tools and misjudged how long requests would take to a version that passed every accuracy check.

Context engineering (the context you provide to the AI; in this case, organized knowledge about the department, its tools, and its limitations) fixed the dangerous failures, including fabricated tools, wrong tool routing, and scope creep. Formatting and style proved harder. Even with a formatting rule written into the agent’s context, style drifted between runs because written guidance is not the same as structural enforcement. An agent can hold context and still drift from it, which is why humans stay in the loop.

The deeper lesson for our profession is self-advocacy. The work that made this agent reliable was classification, metadata, information architecture, and taxonomy. Law librarians already have the core skill. It translates directly to building and maintaining AI systems.

TARGET AUDIENCE:

Law librarians and legal information professionals who are evaluating, piloting, or already using AI tools. Especially relevant for directors and managers deciding whether an AI agent is reliable enough for real work, and for anyone who suspects their information organization skills matter more in the AI era, not less. No technical background required.

TAKEAWAYS:

1. Distinguish context engineering from prompt engineering, and map the information organization skills librarians already use (classification, metadata, information architecture) to the work of making AI agents reliable.
2. Build a simple test rubric that shows whether an AI agent actually works, and reveals which failures context resolves and where a human still needs to stay in the loop.
3. Apply a progressive trust model to decide what an AI agent can see and do at each stage of adoption.

SPEAKERS:

• Courtney Toiaivao, Managing Director & Founder, Grey Letter Advisory

AALL BODY OF KNOWLEDGE DOMAINS:  Information Management, Management + Business Acumen

All AALL webinars include live captioning services.

The opinions shared during this program represent the views of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect those of the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL). Recording, capturing, or using AI tools to duplicate, transcribe, or otherwise reproduce an AALL program in any form is strictly prohibited without prior written consent from AALL. This includes, but is not limited to audio, video, or any other content shared. By attending an AALL program or accessing an AALL recording, you agree to adhere to this policy.

As AI becomes more embedded in legal research platforms, knowledge and research professionals are under increasing pressure to move quickly without compromising data security, professional responsibility, or quality. This session explores how law libraries can design and operationalize a repeatable, scalable assessment framework for GenAI-powered research tools that balances innovation with risk management.

This presentation will walk through a structured, stage‑gated assessment model covering pre‑scoping, technology and security review, risk assessment, and controlled user testing. Attendees will learn how vendor questionnaires and appropriate use guidance can be used to assess issues such as confidentiality, model training, jurisdictional variation, hallucination risk, and the role of human verification.

TARGET AUDIENCE:

Knowledge and research leaders and professionals involved in AI tool evaluation and rollout

TAKEAWAYS:

1. Key questions to ask vendors about data use, training, and regional deployment
2. Guidance on defining appropriate and responsible use for research GenAI tools
3. Steps for a repeatable GenAI research assessment workflow

SPEAKERS:

• Laura Maury, Manager, Research and Information Alerts, Baker McKenzie

AALL BODY OF KNOWLEDGE DOMAINS: Information Management, Management + Business Acumen

All AALL webinars include live captioning services.

The opinions shared during this program represent the views of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect those of the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL). Recording, capturing, or using AI tools to duplicate, transcribe, or otherwise reproduce an AALL program in any form is strictly prohibited without prior written consent from AALL. This includes, but is not limited to audio, video, or any other content shared. By attending an AALL program or accessing an AALL recording, you agree to adhere to this policy.

This session will feature two presentations centered around Implementing AI:  

• From Manuscript to Meaning: Using AI to Recover Mississippi Territorial Court Records
• Taxonomy as an AI Infrastructure

From Manuscript to Meaning: Using AI to Recover Mississippi Territorial Court Records

Early court records are among the most valuable sources documenting the development of American law.  Yet, they are often the least accessible.  Handwritten manuscripts, fading ink, archaic terminology, and limited indexing often make these records difficult to use.  Recent advances in AI offer new opportunities to make these materials more discoverable while preserving the critical role of human expertise.

This session presents a real-world case study of an ongoing project to transcribe, analyze, and interpret records of the Mississippi Territorial courts.  Using examples drawn from original court minute books, participants will see how AI tools can assist in deciphering handwritten documents, identifying legal concepts and historical figures, extracting structured information, and transforming manuscript text into usable research data.

The presentation will walk through the complete workflow, from digital image to verified transcription, and from transcription to historical and legal interpretation.  Examples will demonstrate how AI can support the identification of judges, attorneys, jurors, litigants, and criminal defendants; explain unfamiliar legal terminology; assist with legislative and judicial history research; and help connect individual court entries to broader historical narratives.

In addition to discussing successes, the session will candidly address limitations and challenges encountered during the project. Attendees will see examples of transcription errors, misidentified names, historical ambiguities, and situations where human review remains necessary.  The session will explore practical strategies for quality control, verification, and responsible use of AI in archival and legal information settings.

TARGET AUDIENCE:

This session is designed for law librarians, archivists, legal historians, and information professionals interested in applying AI to unique collections, historical records, and other nontraditional legal information resources.

TAKEAWAYS:

1. Describe how AI can be used to transform handwritten court records into searchable and usable legal information resources.
2. Implement strategies for verifying and improving the accuracy of AI-generated transcriptions and historical research outputs.

SPEAKER:

• Stephen Parks, State Librarian of Mississippi, State Law Library of Mississippi

AALL BODY OF KNOWLEDGE DOMAINS: Research + Analysis, Information Management

Taxonomy as an AI Infrastructure

AI work product tools are growing more popular in law firms, with a push from many to integrate the firm's document management system (DMS) into these tools. The quality of a firm's DMS taxonomy determines whether those tools function correctly. This session will cover a brief overview of DMS taxonomy, why proper classification must be addressed before AI integration begins, and how inconsistent classification can create both retrieval failures and unintended access to confidential documents. Attendees will also learn about free existing standards like SALI, so firms starting with zero taxonomy understand they do not have to build one from scratch. Those who attend will also understand the practical first steps to conduct a taxonomy audit. Research and KM professionals across firms, government agencies, and academic institutions will come away with actionable steps for improving classification as AI becomes more embedded in legal information systems. 

TARGET AUDIENCE:

Research and Knowledge Management professionals involved, or interested in becoming involved, in their organization's DMS administration and AI deployment.

TAKEAWAYS:

1. Understand why a proper DMS taxonomy is a prerequisite for AI work product tools to function effectively and safeguard sensitive firm information.
2. Know how to conduct a taxonomy audit and identify practical first steps for implementation, including awareness of free existing resources like the SALI Alliance standard.
3. Recognize taxonomy work as a strategic opportunity for research and KM professionals to articulate their value and role in AI deployment preparation to firm leadership.

SPEAKER:

• Emma Pettey, Research Services Specialist, Bradley Arant Boult Cummings

AALL BODY OF KNOWLEDGE DOMAINS:  Information Management

All AALL webinars include live captioning services.

The opinions shared during this program represent the views of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect those of the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL). Recording, capturing, or using AI tools to duplicate, transcribe, or otherwise reproduce an AALL program in any form is strictly prohibited without prior written consent from AALL. This includes, but is not limited to audio, video, or any other content shared. By attending an AALL program or accessing an AALL recording, you agree to adhere to this policy.

Law libraries operate in an environment of constant change, where patron expectations, staffing needs, budget realities, and technological advances all require proactive planning rather than reactive responses. Traditional environmental scanning supports this work but is time-intensive and requires familiarity with planning methods that many librarians have not had formal opportunities to develop. Strategic foresight offers a more structured and proactive alternative. It is a futures-oriented planning method that actively seeks out weak signals, those early and often ambiguous indicators that a significant shift may be on the horizon, rather than simply projecting forward from current conditions. This orientation makes it a particularly effective foundation for library strategic plans that must account for rapidly evolving technology, user needs, and information landscapes.

Generative AI tools make strategic foresight more accessible than ever, particularly for librarians who are new to the method. Tools such as ChatGPT, Copilot, and Claude can rapidly scan large information landscapes, surface weak signals across multiple domains, and synthesize early indicators into usable planning inputs.

This session offers a practical, hands-on approach to using GenAI in law library strategic planning. No prior experience with strategic foresight required. Attendees will see real prompting techniques for horizon scanning, clustering signals, and translating emerging trends into actionable insights tied to institutional priorities. Participants will leave with concrete methods they can apply immediately in their own planning workflows, regardless of their prior experience with strategic foresight.

TARGET AUDIENCE:

This program is designed for law library professionals involved in planning, innovation, or service development at all levels.

TAKEAWAYS:

1. Understand the fundamentals of strategic foresight and how weak signal scanning supports proactive law library strategic planning.
2. Apply practical GenAI prompting techniques to identify, cluster, and interpret weak signals from diverse information sources.
3. Evaluate risks, limitations, and validation strategies when using AI-generated insights in organizational decision-making.

SPEAKER:

• Nicole Belbin, Associate Dean for Library & Information Resources, Western New England University School of Law
• June Hsiao Liebert, Director of Information Services, O'Melveny & Myers LLP

AALL BODY OF KNOWLEDGE DOMAINS: Research + Analysis, Management + Business Acumen

All AALL webinars include live captioning services.

The opinions shared during this program represent the views of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect those of the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL). Recording, capturing, or using AI tools to duplicate, transcribe, or otherwise reproduce an AALL program in any form is strictly prohibited without prior written consent from AALL. This includes, but is not limited to audio, video, or any other content shared. By attending an AALL program or accessing an AALL recording, you agree to adhere to this policy.