In this special episode, I join Professor Wondracek virtually to guest-host Capital's very first Podcast Club session for a live conversation about AI, legal ethics, deepfakes, and metadata. We talk candidly with law students about how AI-generated evidence, consumer AI tools, and digital footprints are already impacting sanctions, privilege, and professional responsibility, then translate those issues into practical safeguards for everyday practice. Whether you are in law school, running a small firm, or managing litigation for a larger organization, this inaugural Podcast Club episode shows how to stay competent, secure, and credible when AI and technology are part of your case strategy. Questions section Join Professor Jennifer Wondracek and me as we discuss the following three questions and more! How do deepfakes and manipulated digital evidence challenge a lawyer's ethical duties under core rules on competence, candor to the tribunal, and honesty? What can we learn from recent cases involving deepfake videos, privilege risks in consumer AI tools, and sanctions for hallucinated citations when designing our own AI workflows? How can lawyers and law students build realistic, sustainable practices for reviewing metadata, using VPNs and secure Wi‑Fi, and choosing secure legal AI and eDiscovery tools? Timestamps In our conversation, we covered the following: 00:00 – Welcome to Capital University Law School's first Podcast Club: live recording and today's focus on AI and ethics 🎓 01:00 – Introducing Michael D.J. Eisenberg as guest host and his work with veterans, and The Tech-Savvy Lawyer.Page blog and podcasting 📚 02:30 – What is a deepfake, and how a staged "Bethesda incident" highlights the real-world risk of fake video evidence 🚨 04:00 – Applying competence rules to technology: why "I didn't know" is not a sustainable defense for lawyers 05:00 – Everyday tech risks: public Wi‑Fi, airports, coffee shops, and why lawyers must use VPNs when client information is involved 🌐 06:30 – Discussing NordVPN, ExpressVPN, and how unsecured sessions can compromise client portals, trust accounts, and email 🔐 07:30 – First steps in vetting digital evidence: what to look for in image files and when to call in a forensic expert 08:30 – Lessons from deepfake litigation and obviously altered video: shadows, color-in-black-and-white, and credibility with the court 🎥 10:00 – Candor to the tribunal and rules against dishonesty, fraud, and misrepresentation in the AI era 11:00 – Student question: can you rely on built-in operating system tools to review metadata, or do you need specialist software? 🖼️ 13:30 – Live demo: opening file properties, reading timestamps, device info, and geotags to validate or challenge evidence 16:00 – When scrubbed metadata makes sense, when it doesn't, and how to request original metadata in discovery 18:00 – Five practical safeguards for new and experienced lawyers: education, protocols, client transparency, updated letters, and constant monitoring of AI changes ✅ 20:00 – Why refusing to learn AI and tech is itself a risk to your bar license and your clients' interests 21:00 – Student Q&A: low-resource firms, large volumes of data, and using sampling plus AI to stretch limited budgets 22:30 – Using legal AI to surface anomalies in documents and metadata while still protecting privilege 23:00 – How consumer AI terms and conditions can put privilege and work product at risk, and what to look for in safer options ⚠️ 24:00 – Free vs paid AI accounts: retention, training, and why personally identifiable information doesn't belong in general chatbots 25:00 – Evaluating legal AI vendors: zero retention, encryption, prompt confidentiality, and subpoena requirements 26:00 – Using tightly controlled legal research platforms and "vault" environments to access models like GPT or Claude securely 🧠 27:00 – Documenting prompts and AI use so that, if questioned by a court or bar, you can show reasonable diligence 28:30 – Reasonable metadata review in practice: random sampling, documenting your process, and knowing when to bring in eDiscovery tools 30:00 – How modern eDiscovery platforms surface metadata and support deeper analysis at scale 📂 31:00 – Staying current on AI and tech: newsletters, bar alerts, court updates, and following The Tech-Savvy Lawyer 32:30 – AI hallucinated citations and sanctions: how one New York matter became a warning to the entire profession 💸 34:30 – Firm-wide consequences when AI misuse becomes a pattern: reputational damage, client impact, and even firm dissolution 36:00 – Owning mistakes, repairing trust with judges, and why transparency matters more than perfection 37:00 – Live giveaway of The Lawyer's Guide to Podcasting during the first Podcast Club session 🎲 38:00 – Inviting students to Capital's upcoming summit/bootcamp and to dinner at the Red Door Tavern, plus closing thoughts on the future of tech competence 🍽️ Resources Connect with Professor Jennifer Wondracek: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-wondracek E-Mail: jwondracek@law.capital.edu Software & Services: NordVPN - https://nordvpn.com/ ExpressVPN - https://www.expressvpn.com/ Lexis - https://www.expressvpn.com/ Westlaw - https://legal.thomsonreuters.com/en/westlaw
