Client Intake Under the Rules of Professional Conduct: Conflict Screening, Prospective Client Issues, and AI Considerations

Amy G. McClurg, Assistant Counsel | Thompson Hine LLP

Amy G. McClurg is Assistant Counsel in Thompson Hine LLP’s Office of General Counsel, where she focuses on legal ethics, professional responsibility, and the business of law. She advises on substantive ethics questions, privilege and liability issues, business intake conflicts, outside counsel guidelines, and ethical screens. Working at the intersection of professional responsibility and business litigation, she is a trusted resource on the ethical questions that arise throughout a client relationship.

• Education & Credentials

Ms. McClurg earned her J.D. from Capital University Law School in 2012 and holds a B.A. from The Ohio State University, awarded in 2009. She is admitted to practice in Ohio.

• Recognition & Leadership

Ms. McClurg is recognized within the professional responsibility community as a frequent author and invited speaker on legal ethics. She is a member of The Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers, the national organization dedicated to the field, and is a regular contributor to Thompson Hine’s Business Litigation Update and Corporate Law Update. Her commentary has tracked some of the most consequential developments in attorney-client privilege, including U.S. Supreme Court privilege litigation and the 2026 SDNY ruling that communications with AI tools are not privileged.

• Professional Involvement

She maintains active memberships in the American Bar Association, the Ohio State Bar Association, the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association, and The Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers. Ms. McClurg is a prolific CLE presenter, speaking for organizations including Strafford, myLawCLE, and The Knowledge Group, as well as Thompson Hine’s internal Attorney Conduct CLE program. Her presentation topics span ethical negotiation of contracts and settlements, civil professionalism, social media ethics for lawyers, impermissible client solicitation under ABA Formal Opinion 501, and emerging issues involving the Corporate Transparency Act, artificial intelligence, and the unauthorized practice of law.

• Experience

Ms. McClurg’s practice focuses on advising the firm and its clients on professional responsibility and business litigation matters. She counsels on intake-stage conflicts, ethical screening, privilege preservation, and liability exposure, and she has written extensively on the Corporate Transparency Act and its evolving compliance requirements. Her recent work reflects a strong focus on how new technology, particularly AI, intersects with longstanding ethics and privilege doctrine, positioning her to guide attorneys through questions that traditional rules were not written to answer.

Amber Bevacqua-Lynott, Of Counsel | Buchalter

Amber Bevacqua-Lynott is Of Counsel at Buchalter and Co-Chair of the Firm’s Professional Responsibility Group, practicing across its Portland, San Diego, and Seattle offices. Her practice centers on legal ethics, risk management, and discipline defense, serving as outside counsel to attorneys, licensed professionals, law firms, and in-house legal departments. She advises on conflicts, confidentiality, malpractice, and fee issues, and represents professionals before regulatory authorities and bar associations on licensing, character and fitness, and disciplinary matters.

• Education & Credentials

Ms. Bevacqua-Lynott earned her J.D. from Pepperdine University School of Law and holds a B.A. from the University of Redlands. She is admitted to practice in California, Florida, Oregon, and Washington.

• Recognition & Leadership

Ms. Bevacqua-Lynott has been named one of The Best Lawyers in America for Ethics and Professional Responsibility Law for 2024 through 2026. She serves as Co-Chair of Buchalter’s Professional Responsibility Group and was appointed Chair of the Multnomah Bar Association’s Professionalism Committee. Earlier in her career, she rose to Chief Assistant Disciplinary Counsel and Deputy Director of Regulatory Services at the Oregon State Bar, where she also served as Chief Trial Counsel, reflecting a sustained record of leadership in the professional responsibility field.

• Professional Involvement

She is a member of the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers, the Association of Disciplinary Defense Counsel, and the Washington State Bar Association’s Committee on Professional Ethics. She is also active with the ABA Center for Professional Responsibility, having served on its CLE Committee, and with the National Organization of Bar Counsel, where she chaired the Social Media Use Committee and sat on the Policy Advisory Committee. Beyond bar work, she serves on the board of the Civics Learning Project and co-chairs its annual gala. Ms. Bevacqua-Lynott regularly presents ethics seminars locally and nationally, including for myLawCLE, and developed and taught a semi-annual ethics school for attorneys.

• Experience

With more than 25 years of legal experience, Ms. Bevacqua-Lynott brings extensive civil trial work and a rare dual perspective on professional responsibility. Before joining Buchalter, she spent years in the Oregon State Bar’s Disciplinary Counsel’s Office, enforcing the Oregon Rules of Professional Conduct by investigating and prosecuting alleged misconduct. There she first-chaired several dozen civil trials and handled hundreds of disciplinary matters. Having both prosecuted and defended ethical violations, she offers clients uncommon insight into how ethics rules are applied and enforced in practice.

Joseph A. Corsmeier, Owner | Law Office of Joseph A. Corsmeier, P.A.

Joseph A. Corsmeier is the owner of the Law Office of Joseph A. Corsmeier, P.A., in Palm Harbor, Florida, where he concentrates on legal ethics, professional responsibility, and discipline defense. He represents lawyers in disciplinary matters before The Florida Bar and applicants before the Florida Board of Bar Examiners, defends licensed professionals before state agencies and boards, and provides expert analysis on attorney ethics, malpractice, conflicts of interest, and fees, including expert testimony in state and federal court.

• Education & Credentials

Mr. Corsmeier earned his J.D. from Mercer University’s Walter F. George School of Law and holds a B.S. from Florida State University. He was admitted to The Florida Bar in 1985 and is also admitted before the Supreme Court of the United States, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, and the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.

• Recognition & Leadership

Mr. Corsmeier is AV rated by Martindale-Hubbell, has been recognized as a Super Lawyer across multiple years, and was listed in Marquis’ Who’s Who in American Law. He served as President of the Clearwater Bar Association and has held influential roles in the profession’s ethics infrastructure, including membership on The Florida Bar’s Professionalism (Hawkins) Commission, the Vision 2016 Commission, and the Professional Ethics Committee. He has also served on the Thomson Reuters/Super Lawyers Ethics Advisory Board and the Westlaw Expert Round Table Group.

• Professional Involvement

He is a member of The Florida Bar, the ABA’s Professionalism Section, the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers, and the Clearwater and St. Petersburg Bar Associations, and has served on the ABA Center for Professional Responsibility’s CLE Committee. A prolific speaker, he presents regularly on legal ethics, professionalism, advertising rules, trust accounting, and technology ethics for The Florida Bar’s Masters Seminar on Ethics, myLawCLE, Lorman, and bar associations. He teaches ethics at St. Petersburg College and authors the Ethics Alert newsletter.

• Experience

Mr. Corsmeier brings a rare dual perspective shaped by years of prosecuting and now defending ethics matters. He began as an Assistant State Attorney in Florida’s Sixth Judicial Circuit, trying numerous jury trials, then served nearly a decade as Senior Bar Counsel in The Florida Bar’s Department of Lawyer Regulation, investigating and prosecuting attorney disciplinary cases and arguing before the Supreme Court of Florida. In private practice since 1998, he has defended Bar grievance cases throughout Florida for more than 15 years, giving clients seasoned insight into how disciplinary rules are enforced from both sides.

SESSION 1 – Prospective-Client Duties Under Model Rule 1.18 | 1:00pm – 1:30pm

This session establishes how prospective-client status forms under Model Rule 1.18 and what confidentiality and conflict-avoidance duties attach on formation. Attorneys examine imputation mechanics, ABA Formal Opinions 492, 506, and 510, and the consequences of unstructured intake.

SESSION 2 – Conflict Checking, Imputed Conflicts, and Lateral Screening | 1:30pm – 2:00pm

Covering conflict screening under Rules 1.7, 1.9, and 1.10, this session addresses current-client, former-client, and imputed conflicts plus lateral screening. Attorneys learn confirmed-in-writing consent, the surviving hot-potato doctrine, and audit trails that defeat disqualification motions and malpractice claims.

BREAK | 2:00pm – 2:10pm

SESSION 3 – Deploying and Supervising AI Intake Tools Ethically | 2:10pm – 2:40pm

This session frames the ethics of AI-powered intake tools, including supervisory duties under Rule 5.3 and Opinion 512, data safeguards under Rule 1.6(c), and exposure under CCPA, BIPA, and ADA Title III. Attorneys build vendor diligence and supervision policies.