Proper punctuation with a verbal adverb phrase (деепричастный оборот) following the particle "и"

Question

Do I need a comma here before говоря ?:

То же самое он делал и говоря со студентами пятого курса.

Answer 1

The verbal adverb phrase here immediately follows the predicate and functions as an adverbial modifier of manner (or maybe, of time). Comma is not required in such cases, whether or not conjunction и is used:

То же самое он делал говоря со студентами пятого курса.

Some similar examples are provided here.

EDIT:

I have to thank @J-mster for doubting the above. My analysis may have been misattributed.

Although the verbal adverb phrase in question appears to be a part of the predicate and to fall under the rule I quoted, it most likely conforms to another, much more straightforward, rule:

A verbal adverb phrase preceded by the enhancing particle и is not separated by the comma:

Можете уйти и не дожидаясь ответа
Он оставался скромным и победив сильного противника

Source

The structure of your sentence is exactly the same. The verbal adverb phrase is preceded by the particle (not conjunction!) и.

I am still not entirely sure what should happen if the sentence lacks the particle и. Much as the verbal adverb phrase appears to be closely connected with the predicate, I suspect that my intuition may be misleading me here and that such sentence would indeed need the comma to separate the perfectly normal verbal adverb phrase.

I hope this time the analysis is correct and apologise for misinforming you earlier!