"Standing" is the concept of a right to sue.  In legal malpractice there is a very strict requirement that only a client (with very limited exceptions) may sue the attorney.  Were this not so, every case would end with a legal malpractice started by the loser, and sometimes, the winner.

So, in Brooklyn Elec. Supply Co., Inc. v Jasne & Florio, LLP ; 2011 NY Slip Op 04186 ; Decided on May 17, 2011 ; Appellate Division, Second Department we see a highly technical, but true and effective defense to legal malpractice.  In essence, it says that the client never existed and hence may not now sue.
 

"The defendant established, prima facie, that the plaintiff, a dissolved corporation, lacked the capacity to sue because the plaintiff had been dissolved before the defendant was retained, and this legal malpractice action does not relate to the plaintiff’s winding up of its corporate affairs (see Business Corporation Law §§ 1005[a][1], 1006[a][4]; [b]; Matter of 172 E. 122 St. Tenants Assn. v Schwarz, 73 NY2d 340, 348-349; Moran Enters., Inc. v Hurst, 66 AD3d 972, 975-976; 2 N. Broadway Food, Inc. v Anduze, 33 AD3d 992; Syzygy Sys. Corp. v Bader, 243 AD2d 336). The plaintiff failed to raise a triable issue of fact to rebut the defendant’s prima facie showing of entitlement to judgment as a matter of law (see Lorisa Capital Corp. v Gallo, 119 AD2d 99, 110). "