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.
In Menaker & Herrman, LLP v Foster 2017 NY Slip Op 31456(U) July 7, 2017 Supreme Court, New York County Docket Number: 651969/2016 Judge Manuel J. Mendez presents a primer on the law of legal fee billing and retainer agreements.
“The complaint alleges that on May 3, 2013, defendant, Larry J. Guffey, an at1:orney, retained…
Professional Negligence, especially in the real estate construction field is the source of a number of litigation problems. Architects routinely use arbitration clauses. Zoning issues, including the mistaken analysis of what might be built on a specific lot are themselves subject to governmental immunity. 2649 E. 23 LLC v New York City Dept. of Bldgs.…
Board of Mgrs. of 100 Congress Condominium v SDS Congress, LLC 2017 NY Slip Op 05414 Decided on July 5, 2017 Appellate Division, Second Department offers an explanation of the difference between breach of contract and negligence in an architectural negligence case.
“The plaintiff, suing on behalf of the unit owners of a condominium building…
A couple of entrepreneurs meet in college and start up a translation company. Many years later, successful as hell, they embark on a new hobby…litigation. Both take to the sport and become pros. Shawe v Elting 2017 NY Slip Op 31406(U) June 29, 2017 Supreme Court, New York County Docket Number: 153375/2016 is a wonderful…
The statute, which has been with us in one form or another for more than 800 years does not mention “egregious” nor “chronic” nor a “pattern of delinquent behavior.” 487 is handled differently in the First Department, and in the other Departments, there appears to be a lower threshold for its application. Here in Gelwan …
Our mission is to cover and report every legal malpractice case we can fine. In Kings County, there are fewer decisions published electronically than in other places. So, when the Appellate Division rules without giving any of the underlying facts, we traditionally go to the electronic filing system, and if the case is too old,…
Cordero v Koval Retjig & Dean PLLC 2017 NY Slip Op 05036 Decided on June 20, 2017 Appellate Division, First Department presents an interesting question. How does continuous representation in legal malpractice affect the statute of limitations amid lateral movement of attorneys from one firm to the next?
In this case, the matter travelled with…
We are pleased to say that the Court of Appeals answered a certified question in our favor in Gevorkyan v Judelson 2017 NY Slip Op 05176 Decided on June 27, 2017 Court of Appeals
DiFiore, Ch. J. a case we have labored on over the past several years. In this novel question of law, the…
High-level employee is the subject of a state investigation along with the Hospital employer. The investigation and litigation continue and eventually the hospital and the County succeed. The employee, not so much. Employee says that had the attorneys filed a certain appeal, he would have been exonerated. May he sue the attorneys assigned to him,…
Attorneys and client have a number of related cases arising out of a real estate transaction. They are in and out of some of the transactions, and other eventually go sour. How does the continuous representation doctrine play out in this setting?
In RJR Mech. Inc. v Ruvoldt 2017 NY Slip Op 31232(U) June 8,…
