Barrett v Goldstein 2017 NY Slip Op 30011(U) January 4, 2017 Supreme Court, New York County Docket Number: 154225/2016 Judge: Arlene P. Bluth is the second half of a two-part decision arising from a divorce mediation which went wrong for plaintiff. Yesterday, we saw that the mediator was let out of the case. Today, plaintiff’s
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.
Not Your Attorney? Then No Legal Malpractice Claim
Divorce is a huge step. It ends a marriage and brings with it seismic shock. When (as always) this type of event is coupled with legal representation, the client will often blame the attorney for the outcome. Sometimes this is warranted, and sometimes not. Barrett v Goldstein 2017 NY Slip Op 30010(U) January 3, 2017…
All of the 2016 Judiciary Law Cases, Continued
13. Emigrant Funding Corp. v Nunez 2016 NY Slip Op 32089(U) May 25, 2016 Supreme Court, Queens County Docket Number: 16111/2009 Judge: Robert J. McDonald Our review of the entire year’s cases highlights the large number of foreclosure actions in which (almost as a reflex) JL 487 claims are raised against both the bank’s attorneys…
All the Judiciary Law 487 Cases of 2016 (4)
Continuing on our survey of all the JL 487 cases last year we move on to the spring:
10. Little Rest Twelve, Inc. v Zajic
2016 NY Slip Op 01767 [137 AD3d 540]
March 15, 2016
Appellate Division, First Department discusses a concept that we will see further refined later:
“As discussed below, the motion…
Really? What Exactly Does It Take to Hold A Law Firm Responsible?
McDowell v HSBC Bank, USA, N.A. 2016 NY Slip Op 32493(U) December 20, 2016 Supreme Court, New York County Docket Number: 154900/13 Judge: Shlomo S. Hagler is a footnote to “The Big Short” and illustrates how the sub-prime mortgage market operated at a retail level.
“McDowell was an “elderly person of color” who owned premises…
Only in Manhattan…
Where else in this fair country could a dispute over replacement of a washing machine escalate to litigation over Judiciary Law 487, treble damages, attorney fees and the business judgment rule? Only in Manhattan and probably only in a coop. Plaintiff had to get permission to put in the washer/dryer and then when it broke…
A Huge Mess; Let’s Start Over
Plaintiff agrees to buy a newly constructed home, so long as the builder can produce a Certificate of Occupancy. Of course, there is no C of O at the closing, and everyone goes into a song and dance. Escrows, title insurance promises and monies paid to the attorneys cloud the story. Now, after a slew…
Litigation is a Game of Kings…With Lots of Money at Play
Arbor Realty Funding, LLC v Herrick, Feinstein LLP 2016 NY Slip Op 08935 Decided on December 29, 2016 Appellate Division, First Department is certainly a case about money. Note the level of defense attorney players here…Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, Steptoe & Johnson LLP, Blank Rome, LLP, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton and Garrison LLP, New…
A Classic Legal Malpractice Case to End the Year
It’s our last blog for the year, and it is a classic situation. We leave you ’till January with this story.
Copeny v George T. Peters, PLLC 2016 NY Slip Op 32501(U) December 16, 2016 Supreme Court, Kings County Docket Number: 501818/14 Judge: Larry D. Martin is all about a car accident, and the selection…
When Quasi-Legal Malpractice Claims Get Really Ugly
This case mentions legal malpractice, and is a variant of the classic “you did me wrong, so I’m suing” trope. Here, an international investor, is accused of defamation of a well-regarded law firm and its principal.
Morelli v Wey 2016 NY Slip Op 32487(U) December 16, 2016 Supreme Court, New York County
Docket Number: 153011/16 …