The AI Chatbot Wiretap Class Action Wave

J. Colin Knisely, Partner | Duane Morris LLP

J. Colin Knisely is a Partner at Duane Morris LLP in the firm’s Philadelphia office, where he concentrates his practice in commercial litigation, including class action litigation arising out of state and federal privacy laws. Colin regularly counsels clients in the complex areas of privacy, cybersecurity, ransomware attacks, and data breach response, and represents clients on claims concerning accessibility of their public-facing websites. He also specializes in litigation related to Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Fair Housing Act, while handling employment law, professional liability litigation, insurance coverage, and products liability matters, with lead roles in numerous trials in state and federal courts, arbitrations, and appeals.

• Education & Credentials

Colin earned his J.D. from Case Western Reserve University School of Law in 1997, and his B.A., magna cum laude, from Allegheny College in 1993. He is admitted to the Pennsylvania and Ohio Bars and the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and the Northern District of Ohio.

• Recognition & Leadership

Colin has been named a Thomson Reuters Stand-out Lawyer (2024–2026).

• Professional Involvement

Colin is a member of the Philadelphia Bar Association and the Professional Liability Underwriting Society. He authored “Northern District of California Allows CIPA Claims Against AI Pizza Ordering Assistant to Proceed” (August 2025) and “Third Circuit Clarifies Standing Requirements for Session Replay Privacy Claims” (August 2025), and co-authored “California SB 690 Stalls in Assembly — CIPA Liability Remains at Least Through 2026” (July 2025) and “U.S. Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit Reversal Expands Potential Liability for Companies Using Session-Replay and Tracking Technologies in California” (June 2025). He has presented on “Web Tracking on Trial: Privacy Class Actions, AI Misrepresentation Claims, and Compliance Risks” for myLawCLE (September 2025) and on privacy class actions for the Western Alliance Bank Class Action Law Forum (March 2024).

• Experience

Colin secured a directed verdict at trial on behalf of a manufacturer in age discrimination and breach of contract claims, with affirmance on appeal before the Ohio Eighth District Court of Appeals. He has defended multiple banks and retailers in putative class actions alleging failure to comply with the ADA on website accessibility and ATM access, obtained a $1.85 million verdict for a bank client in a commercial mortgage dispute, and represented a lender in a $75 million lender liability, deepening insolvency, and fraud case brought by the U.S. Trustee.

Robert Austin Jenkin, II, Associate | Troutman Pepper Locke

Robert Austin Jenkin, II (“Rob”) is an Associate at Troutman Pepper Locke in the firm’s Princeton, New Jersey office, where he focuses his practice on complex business disputes and privacy litigation in federal and state courts across the U.S., as well as in mediations and arbitrations. With a primary focus on privacy and cybersecurity matters, his national practice includes clients ranging from small, closely held corporations to international technology companies. As a member of the firm’s Privacy + Cyber practice, Rob frequently provides thought leadership on developments in the data privacy and security space.

• Education & Credentials

Rob earned his J.D. from Seton Hall University School of Law in 2020, where he served as senior editor of the Seton Hall Law Review, and his B.S. in Business Management from Rutgers University in 2016. He is admitted to the New Jersey and New York Bars and the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, and is a Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP/US).

• Recognition & Leadership

Rob serves as Co-Chair of the American Bar Association’s Litigation Section Committee on Privacy and Data Security Litigation (2025–2026) and as Associate Editor of the ABA Young Lawyer Division.

• Professional Involvement

Rob has authored or co-authored numerous publications on privacy and wiretap litigation, including “Court Upholds ‘Ordinary Course of Business’ Exception for AI Call Analytics Under ECPA” (January 2026), “Third Circuit Provides Helpful Guidance on the ‘Party Exception’ to Wiretap Liability” (November 2025), and “The Northern District of California Calls on the California Legislature to Fix CIPA” (October 2025). He has spoken on “AI in the Federal Appellate Courts” for the ABA Litigation Section Podcast (March 2026) and appeared on The Consumer Finance Podcast on “The New Wave of Web Tracking Litigation: Wiretap Statutes, VPPA Risk, and Consent Strategies” (November 2025).

• Experience

Rob has defended a cloud software company in multidistrict litigation arising from a data breach, resulting in the denial of class certification, and defended a media company in a putative class action under the Video Privacy Protection Act. He has defended companies against claims under the California Invasion of Privacy Act, the California Comprehensive Computer Data Access and Fraud Act, and the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, and represented healthcare providers and laboratory testing services in putative class actions under multiple California privacy statutes arising from data breaches.

SESSION 1 – AI Chatbot Wiretap Liability Under CIPA and ECPA | 1:00pm – 2:00pm

Map the statutory and case-law architecture driving AI chatbot wiretap claims under California Penal Code §§ 631(a) and 632 and the Federal Wiretap Act, including vendor-as-third-party architectures, regulated-vertical overlays, damages benchmarks, and SB 690 legislative risk.

BREAK | 2:00pm – 2:10pm

SESSION 2 – Pleading and Defending AI Chatbot Wiretap Class Actions | 2:10pm – 3:10pm

Equip defense counsel to challenge and resolve AI chatbot wiretap class actions, including post-Popa standing challenges, class certification defense, settlement pricing, Javier-compliant consent preambles, vendor DPA restructuring, server-side architecture, and insurance placement.