1. Solon v. Tormey, 1542 CA 04-02353 , SUPREME COURT OF NEW YORK, APPELLATE DIVISION, FOURTH DEPARTMENT , 2006 NY Slip Op 891; February 3, 2006, Decided,
Question: Did the plaintiff investigate this case at all? Plaintiff accuses attorney of conversion of 400,000 shares of stock in a gas corporation that had been entrusted to him to hold for a decedent. The attorney, however, delivered the shares to a Federal District Court judge for exchange pursuant to a settlement of decedent’s pre-death case. The attorney, having done exactly what the stipulation required, and having actually delivered the stock to a Federal Judge was nevertheless sued. Case dismissed.

2. Edwards v. Siegel, Kelleher & Kahn & Mark G. Hirschorn, 139 CA 05-01489 , SUPREME COURT OF NEW YORK, APPELLATE DIVISION, FOURTH DEPARTMENT February 3, 2006,6, Entered, Here is a highly unusual case for two reasons. First, it appears that plaintiff filed bankruptcy, and while unstated, apparently did not obtain permission from the trustee to bring this action; second, plaintiff prevails on arguments made for the first time on appeal, namely that defendants did not move to dismiss for lack of capacity. A very strange decision, and the legal malpractice case continues.

3.SEROVA v. TEPLEN, No. 05 CIV. 6748 (HB), UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK, 2006 U.S. Dist. February 16, 2006, Decided Here is a Federal legal malpractice case arising from immigration representation. Plaintiff is a Russian national who was induced to invest about a million dollars in hopes of obtaining a treaty investor visa. The quest failed. The defendant attorney induced plaintiff to invest in a “friend’s” company, and everything went wrong. This case discusses punitive damages, Judiciary Law section 487 and several other interesting issues.

4. RUBENS v. ROY L. MASON & MORGAN SHELSBY CARLO DOWNS & EVERTON, 01 Civ. 5004 (DC), UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK, 2006 U.S. Dist. February 15, 2006, Decided, February 15, 2006, Filed. Motion for summary judgment in a case where defendant attorneys took over a very complex Dalkon Shield case from predecessor attorneys just weeks before an arbitration. The claim was for a Dalkon shield inserted 25 years prior and removed 12 years prior, and involved a host of interesting issues.

5. Achtman v. Kirby, McInerney & Squire, LLP, 02 Civ. 9913 (JES) , UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK , 404 F. Supp. 2d 540; 2005 U.S. Dist. December 12, 2005, Decided,

In a class action, involving legal malpractice the District court enforced an injunction order prohibiting contact of class members.

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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.