There are some differences between legal malpractice and accounting malpractice, but far more similarities.  One major difference, as set forth in New York State Workers’ Compensation Bd. v Fuller & LaFiura, CPAs, P.C.  2017 NY Slip Op 00225  Decided on January 12, 2017
Appellate Division, Third Department is that traditionally accountants do work in one tax-year increments which affects calculation of the statute of limitations.  “As for the cause of action asserted against Fuller for professional negligence, we cannot agree with plaintiff’s argument that the doctrine of continuous representation applies to toll the applicable three-year statute of limitations until Fuller delivered its last audited financial statement on May 4, 2011. It is well settled that “‘[t]he continuous representation doctrine tolls the statute of limitations . . . where there is a mutual understanding of the need for further representation on the specific subject matter underlying the malpractice claim'” (Deep v Boies, 121 AD3d 1316, 1318 [2014], lv denied 25 NY3d 903 [2015], quoting McCoy v Feinman, 99 NY2d 295, 306 [2002]; see Giarratano v Silver, 46 AD3d 1053, 1055 [2007]). However, the existence of a continuing, general, professional relationship is insufficient to invoke this doctrine. Instead, the doctrine applies only in the narrow circumstance “where the continuing representation pertains specifically to the matter in which . . . the alleged malpractice” occurred (Shumsky v Eisenstein, 96 NY2d 164, 168 [2001]; accord Deep v Boies, 121 AD3d at 1318; seeChicago Tit. Ins. Co. v Mazula, 47 AD3d 999, 1000 [2008]). Here, we agree with Supreme Court that the allegations of professional malpractice against Fuller are exclusively directed at the separate and discrete yearly audited financial statements that Fuller prepared (see 12 NYCRR 317.19 [a] [2]). In addition, plaintiff has not alleged that it engaged Fuller to provide corrective or remedial services after Fuller submitted the financial statements or that plaintiff and Fuller explicitly contemplated further services regarding completed financial statements (see Williamson v PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, 9 NY3d at 11). Under these circumstance, Supreme Court properly found that the continuous representation doctrine was inapplicable (see id. at 10-11; Rodeo Family Enters., LLC v Matte, 99 AD3d 781, 784 [2012]; Giarratano v Silver, 46 AD3d at 1055). Accordingly, the cause of action for professional negligence is time-barred to the extent that it alleges actions occurring prior to May 31, 2010.”

In so many other ways, they are similar.  “We find merit in plaintiff’s contention that Supreme Court erred in dismissing the breach of fiduciary duty claim asserted against Fuller (tenth cause of action). Although the duty owed by an accountant is generally not fiduciary in nature (see Bitter v Renzo, 101 AD3d 465, 465 [2012]; Caprer v Nussbaum, 36 AD3d 176, 194 [2006]), a fiduciary relationship exists where the accountant is “under a duty to act for or to give advice for the benefit of [the client] upon matters within the scope of the relation” (EBC I, Inc. v Goldman, Sachs & Co., 5 NY3d 11, 19 [2005] [internal quotation marks and citation omitted]; see Oddo Asset Mgt. v Barclays Bank PLC, 19 NY3d 584, 592-593 [2012]). This inquiry is “necessarily fact-specific” (Marmelstein v Kehillat New Hempstead: Rav Aron Jofen Community Synagogue, 11 NY3d 15, 21 [2008] [internal quotation marks and citation omitted]), and the dispositive factor is whether there is “confidence on one side and resulting superiority and influence on the other” (New York State Workers’ Compensation Bd. v SGRisk, LLC, 116 AD3d 1148, 1152 [2014] [internal quotation marks and citations omitted]; see AG Capital Funding Partners, L.P. v State St. Bank & Trust Co., 11 NY3d 146, 158 [2008]). Plaintiff alleged that Fuller held itself out to have the requisite skill and expertise to maintain the trust’s financial records, provide auditing services and — [*2]importantly — provide advice to the trust regarding the trust’s financial status. According to plaintiff, Fuller breached its fiduciary duty by knowingly and consistently concealing the trust’s true financial condition and failing to properly advise the trust regarding its solvency, causing over $8 million in damages. Accepting these allegations as true and giving plaintiff the benefit of every favorable inference (see Chanko v American Broadcasting Cos. Inc., 27 NY3d 46, 52 [2016]), we find that plaintiff’s cause of action for breach of fiduciary duty is sufficiently stated to survive Fuller’s motion to dismiss (see New York State Workers’ Compensation Bd. v SGRisk, LLC, 116 AD3d at 1153).”

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Andrew Lavoott Bluestone

Andrew Lavoott Bluestone has been an attorney for 40 years, with a career that spans criminal prosecution, civil litigation and appellate litigation. Mr. Bluestone became an Assistant District Attorney in Kings County in 1978, entered private practice in 1984 and in 1989 opened…

Andrew Lavoott Bluestone has been an attorney for 40 years, with a career that spans criminal prosecution, civil litigation and appellate litigation. Mr. Bluestone became an Assistant District Attorney in Kings County in 1978, entered private practice in 1984 and in 1989 opened his private law office and took his first legal malpractice case.

Since 1989, Bluestone has become a leader in the New York Plaintiff’s Legal Malpractice bar, handling a wide array of plaintiff’s legal malpractice cases arising from catastrophic personal injury, contracts, patents, commercial litigation, securities, matrimonial and custody issues, medical malpractice, insurance, product liability, real estate, landlord-tenant, foreclosures and has defended attorneys in a limited number of legal malpractice cases.

Bluestone also took an academic role in field, publishing the New York Attorney Malpractice Report from 2002-2004.  He started the “New York Attorney Malpractice Blog” in 2004, where he has published more than 4500 entries.

Mr. Bluestone has written 38 scholarly peer-reviewed articles concerning legal malpractice, many in the Outside Counsel column of the New York Law Journal. He has appeared as an Expert witness in multiple legal malpractice litigations.

Mr. Bluestone is an adjunct professor of law at St. John’s University College of Law, teaching Legal Malpractice.  Mr. Bluestone has argued legal malpractice cases in the Second Circuit, in the New York State Court of Appeals, each of the four New York Appellate Divisions, in all four of  the U.S. District Courts of New York and in Supreme Courts all over the state.  He has also been admitted pro haec vice in the states of Connecticut, New Jersey and Florida and was formally admitted to the US District Court of Connecticut and to its Bankruptcy Court all for legal malpractice matters. He has been retained by U.S. Trustees in legal malpractice cases from Bankruptcy Courts, and has represented municipalities, insurance companies, hedge funds, communications companies and international manufacturing firms. Mr. Bluestone regularly lectures in CLEs on legal malpractice.

Based upon his professional experience Bluestone was named a Diplomate and was Board Certified by the American Board of Professional Liability Attorneys in 2008 in Legal Malpractice. He remains Board Certified.  He was admitted to The Best Lawyers in America from 2012-2019.  He has been featured in Who’s Who in Law since 1993.

In the last years, Mr. Bluestone has been featured for two particularly noteworthy legal malpractice cases.  The first was a settlement of an $11.9 million dollar default legal malpractice case of Yeo v. Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman which was reported in the NYLJ on August 15, 2016. Most recently, Mr. Bluestone obtained a rare plaintiff’s verdict in a legal malpractice case on behalf of the City of White Plains v. Joseph Maria, reported in the NYLJ on February 14, 2017. It was the sole legal malpractice jury verdict in the State of New York for 2017.

Bluestone has been at the forefront of the development of legal malpractice principles and has contributed case law decisions, writing and lecturing which have been recognized by his peers.  He is regularly mentioned in academic writing, and his past cases are often cited in current legal malpractice decisions. He is recognized for his ample writings on Judiciary Law § 487, a 850 year old statute deriving from England which relates to attorney deceit.