Summary
In Episode 27, hosts Jen Leonard and Bridget McCormack kick off a new chapter with a fresh name — AI and the Future of Law — and a new presenting partnership with the Practising Law Institute (PLI), in collaboration with the American Arbitration Association. The rebrand reflects their evolving mission while keeping the heart of the podcast intact: accessible, thought-provoking insights on how AI is reshaping the legal profession.
Listeners can expect the same candid co-host dialogue, plus a broader range of formats, including expert interviews. In this bite-sized bonus episode, Jen and Bridget celebrate the new launch and share personal “AI Aha!” moments — from ChatGPT-powered tick identification in Michigan to motivational coaching for long-distance runs.
Key Takeaways
1. New Name, Same Vision
The podcast formerly known as 2030 Vision is now AI and the Future of Law. With a new partnership and visual identity, the show is expanding its scope — but retaining its signature co-host dynamic and biweekly release schedule.
2. Presented by PLI
The Practising Law Institute joins as the presenting sponsor, helping the podcast reach a wider legal audience while maintaining its independent, forward-looking tone.
3. A Broader Lens on Legal AI
While past episodes featured just Jen and Bridget riffing on AI in the law, upcoming episodes will include interviews with legal tech experts, educators, and industry innovators.
4. Bridget’s AI Aha!: Bugging Out in the Backyard
Bridget used ChatGPT’s vision features to identify a tick her nephew found outdoors — quickly determining it was a deer tick potentially carrying Lyme disease risk. A practical reminder that AI isn’t just for work; it can also boost personal safety and knowledge in everyday life.
4. Jen’s AI Aha!: Running Coach in Your Pocket
Jen used ChatGPT’s voice mode to overcome motivational resistance and ended up running more than double the distance she’d planned. The AI’s pep talk — part persuasive, part poetic — shows how emotional intelligence and encouragement are emerging features of modern AI tools.
Final Thoughts
The show is evolving, but its mission remains the same: helping legal professionals engage with the AI revolution meaningfully, ethically, and with curiosity.
Whether you’re a longtime fan or new to the feed, now’s the time to subscribe, share, and bring your questions. The conversation is just getting started.
Transcript
Jen Leonard: Hi, Bridget. I am so excited to see you. And we have some really exciting news to share with the people who've been following our podcast for a while.
Bridget McCormack: Yeah, I'm very excited. We're rebranding from 2030 Vision: AI and the Future of Law to AI and the Future of Law. And I'm very excited for year two of this journey with you, Jen.
Jen Leonard: Same here. And we should reassure people who've been following us for a while that nothing major is changing. We will have the same cadence. We will drop a new episode every other week, and we'll have the same thoughtful content. But we have exciting new news that I will ask Bridget to share with everybody.
Bridget McCormack: Yeah, we're thrilled to let you all know that the podcast is now being presented by the PLI in collaboration with the American Arbitration Association. So we have a new partner, and the PLI will make sure that our content is distributed widely to legal audiences.
Jen Leonard: That's right. So we are excited to partner with the leader in professional education for lawyers and legal professionals in the Practising Law Institute. We also have some minor changes, like new visual branding and cover art.
And we're excited to expand our formats to introduce some expert interviews. So up until now, our conversations have been amazing, but they have just been the two of us really riffing on our thoughts and opinions about the changing landscape of AI in the law.
And we thought it would be great to expand and hear from some new voices and leaders in AI, legal education, and practice. So we'll continue focusing on how AI is reshaping the legal profession and how our listeners can engage meaningfully with that change. But we'll also be strengthening our content by bringing in new perspectives and expertise.
So what should our listeners be doing, Bridget, as we move into this new era of our podcast?
Bridget McCormack: Yeah, I'm really excited for this new format. Even though, as you know, I could talk to you all day about AI. It'll be really fun to bring in some new voices and do some interviews with some of the leaders in AI and the legal profession.
But for now, just follow and subscribe to our podcast on your favorite platform, share the show with colleagues or friends, and reach out to us with any topics or questions that you have, and we will cover them. We really look forward to hearing from our listeners, and we like to deliver content that you're interested in.
Jen Leonard: Absolutely. And if you're new to the podcast, you will learn that one of the segments is what we call AI Aha!—things that we have used AI to do in our lives that we find particularly interesting. And we think it's helpful to share uses with other people so that we can all learn together.
So in this tiny little mini episode, we wanted to share one of those with people who might be new or those who have followed us for a while. So, Bridget, what's your AI Aha! since we last spoke?
AI Aha! Moments
Bridget McCormack: My bonus AI Aha! is not work-related at all. I think you're sensing a pattern with me. I kind of go back and forth between nature use cases and work use cases.
But my brother and his family were visiting last week—he has little kids—and one of his kids pointed out a “spider” on the outdoor couch. And it was a tick. And we had a plastic bag, so we put the tick in the plastic bag, and I took a photo of it through the plastic bag and asked ChatGPT to identify the tick and tell me anything I needed to know about whether it was the kind of tick we should worry about with respect to Lyme disease.
Ticks are everywhere this summer. I don't know if that's true in Pennsylvania, but it's true in Michigan. And in fact, it was a deer tick, and it was exactly the kind of tick that you had to worry about with Lyme disease.
And I don't know if everybody else is carrying plastic bags for collecting ticks, but I highly recommend having your ChatGPT on you and a few little sandwich bags in your pocket if you're in the woods—because there's a lot to learn with these easy tools.
Jen Leonard: Oh my goodness, that's really scary. Mine is not as terrifying. I'm glad that you caught it. And I'm not really sure what's happening with ticks in Pennsylvania, but now I want to find out.
So mine is also not work-related. This year I've been working to up my mileage. I used to train for and run long-distance runs and marathons and things, and I'm trying to get back into that. But I needed a little bit more motivation last week. I wanted to go for a run, but I didn't feel like it.
And I love ChatGPT voice mode and playing around with it, and that sort of mimics Her, if you've seen the movie with Joaquin Phoenix. So I turned on voice mode and said, “I really don't feel like going for a run today. Can you use your powers of persuasion, which I've read about, to convince me to go for a run?”
And it worked. Like, long story short, I went for a seven-mile run when I really had intended to go for a three-mile run. And I was really leaning toward going for no run at all.
But it just came out—and I have it pulled up here—it’s like, “Let's be honest, the couch is whispering sweet nothings. Your brain is arguing that productivity could just as easily look like reading an article about performance while eating a muffin. But here's the thing: you never regret a run.”
And then it goes into this whole thing: “You're not running for today. You're running for future you. And you don't need to run far. Just put on your sneakers and go outside and run for one song. And if you don't feel like running anymore, come back in.”
And I kept telling it, “Say more. Say more things like that,” and it kept giving me more and more. So it did get me out there for a run. I don't know whether that would work long term, but I really enjoyed having somebody there to just, like, tell me to go out and go for a run.
Bridget McCormack: That is very cool. Did you keep talking to it throughout the run, or did you turn music on at a certain point once it got you up and running?
Jen Leonard: Oh no, I was listening to “AI” podcasts once I got out the door. And that's probably why I ran so long. But I did go back the next day and asked it to encourage me again.
And it was interesting because upping your mileage too quickly is a recipe for getting hurt, which is why I had to decrease my mileage in the first place. And it said to me, sort of like, “You might want to think about not going for a full run today.” And then it encouraged me to do some cross-training, which I did.
So I thought that was kind of interesting. It didn't discourage me. It was like, “If you want to go for a run, go for it. But you also might want to take a rest today or build in some strength training.”
Bridget McCormack: Good advice.
Jen Leonard: Very good advice. Well, this was a lovely mini episode with you, Bridget, and I'm so excited about the next chapter of AI and the Future of Law.
Bridget McCormack: Me too.