Legal malpractice cases traditionally hew to the Legal Malpractice – Breach of Contract – Breach of Fiduciary axis. Outlier cases add in some exotic causes of action. Gleyzerman v Law Offs. of Arthur Gershfeld & Assoc., PLLC 2017 NY Slip Op 07200 Decided on October 12, 2017 Appellate Division, First Department is a overbilling case,
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 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.
Suing The Expert When It All Goes Wrong
The expert comes into trial and is subject to cross-examination. When that cross-examination hits home, and the court precludes some of the expert testimony, or fails to qualify the expert, or the expert has to admit that it did not examine or consider some piece of evidence, then things will not go well for the…
How Did They Get This Wrong?
Either Volvo owned the car and leased it to the auto accident defendant or it did not. Simple issue, no? How did this simple issue morph into an auto accident trial where Jacoby & Meyers represented plaintiff and the proofs were not in place before the jury. More puzzling, how did this proof elude the…
Out Of State Rules Kill A New York Legal Malpractice Case
Centre Lane Partners, LLC v Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher, & Flom LLP 2017 NY Slip Op 07221 Decided on October 17, 2017 Appellate Division, First Department illustrates two rules. One of the rules is the borrowing statute, and the second is one that is both out-of-state and foreign to NY jurisprudence.
The borrowing statute, in…
Not Only Was It Not Malpractice, But…
Deceased clients, deceased attorneys, and a disputed real estate transaction lead to Gourary v Green 2017 NY Slip Op 32158(U) October 13, 2017 Supreme Court, New York County Docket Number: 651932/10 Judge: Saliann Scarpulla. At this point in the case, the attorneys have obtained dismissal of the legal malpractice claim, which has been affirmed by…
Limited Retainer Agreements and Legal Malpractice
What a difference a sentence in the retainer agreement can make. In Matz v Aboulafia Law Firm, LLC 2017 NY Slip Op 32147(U) October 10, 2017 Supreme Court, New York County
Docket Number: 155506/2016 Judge: Kathryn E. Freed, these words led to dismissal against the attorneys: [the Aboulafia Firm] “is to do no further work…
Both Motions Fail; One Side Rejoices More Than The Other
Ragunandan v Donado 2017 NY Slip Op 04306 [150 AD3d 1289] May 31, 2017
Appellate Division, Second Department is a case in which both sides moved for summary judgment. In Supreme Court, the attorney won. On appeal, both lost. Case continues; defendant is more unhappy than is plaintiff.
“Ordered that the order is modified, on…
“I Was Really Out Of It” Can Be A Valid Excuse
There are few really good excuses in life. “The dog ate my ___” is one classic. “Traffic” can serve as a reasonable excuse. Temporary psychological inability to defend oneself does not seem like a good candidate, but in Pierot v Leopold 2017 NY Slip Op 07154 Decided on October 11, 2017 Appellate Division, Second Department…
Some Interesting Points on Continuous Representation
An elderly couple sells some real estate and want to insulate the proceeds for estate planning purposes, specifically Medicare planning. They have to make the transaction such that they keep the proceeds and shield them from a 5 year look-back review by Medicare. As a reader of this blog, you surmise that something goes wrong. …
A Unique Cause of Action in a Legal Malpractice Setting
New, or unique causes of action rarely arise. In Alrose Steinway, LLC v Jaspan Schlesinger, LLP 2017 NY Slip Op 32082(U) September 29, 2017 Supreme Court, New York County Docket Number: 151482/2017 we see a claim that failure to supervise a vastly experienced partner in an LLP is negligence. Supreme Court permits discovery on the…