LIVE ZOOM: MCLE: Introduction to AI for Legal Research
Wednesday, February 18, 2026: 12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.
This class will be hosted on ZOOM
---ZOOM INFORMATION WILL BE EMAILED TO REGISTRANTS PRIOR TO CLASS START TIME---
Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming the practice of law. Large language model (LLM)-based generative AI (“gen AI”) tools can answer legal research questions with minimal input in a fraction of the time such tasks once took to perform. However, the quality and accuracy of gen AI output remains subject to dispute, and examples abound of attorneys facing sanctions or discipline for irresponsible use of AI. In this class, learn what gen AI can – and cannot – do for you, and how to use AI responsibly for legal research.
Class covers:
- What gen AI is, how it works – and how it doesn’t
- What legal researchers need to know about AI hallucinations, and how to spot them
- How hallucinations and other errors are measured and which types of AI tools tend to perform better
- How to engineer effective AI prompts for legal research
- AI as rough draft and idea generator: why you need to verify and improve upon AI outputs
Earn 1.5 hours California participatory MCLE credit in subtopic of Technology
MCLE Disclaimer: MCLE credit is only granted to attorneys licensed to practice law by the State Bar of California. Attorneys from other jurisdictions should contact their state bar to learn about credit reciprocity.
Presented by: Ryan Metheny, Director, Reference & Collections, LA Law Library
Ryan oversees the Reference and Collection Development teams at the Library. After graduating from UCLA School of Law, Ryan practiced litigation and First Amendment law in Berkeley, CA. He transitioned to librarianship to focus on his passions of research and education, and earned a master’s degree in library and information science from the University of Washington. He has worked in various roles at the Library since 2013, and now heads the public-facing services while overseeing collection and budget decisions. Ryan also teaches legal research at the University of Southern California-Gould School of Law.
Registration fee: $20, Non-refundable.





