While the non-attorney was but a small part of this case and non-disclosure was a larger part of the case, this case was dismissed mostly because it is very difficult to succeed on a legal malpractice matrimonial case unless one can show that the monied spouse hid significant assets.
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.
It Did Not Happen Here; Don’t Sue Here
What happens when NY clients engage in Georgia real estate transactions and the deal goes sour? The short answer is that you sue the attorney, if it was (even arguably) the attorney’s fault. Where do you sue? NY is definitely easier, and may have laws which favor plaintiff. The sticking point is due process and…
Motions For Summary Judgment Fail Across the Board
We sometimes wonder why defendants make motions for summary judgment were it seems clear that there are disputed questions of fact. Brown-Jodoin v Pirrotti 2016 NY Slip Op 02606
Decided on April 6, 2016 Appellate Division, Second Department is one of those cases. Defendants tried to dismiss on the “standing” issue merely because this was…
Today’s Judiciary Law 487 Article in the New York Law Journal
We’re very proud to announce our article in today’s New York Law Journal. “Judiciary Law § 487 Joins the Mainstream” We hope you enjoy.
A Very Long Wait and a Quick Disposition
Attorney client anger may fester for a very long time, and then erupt. In Katz v Landsman
2016 NY Slip Op 30533(U) March 30, 2016 Supreme Court, New York County Docket Number: 161147/14 Judge: Carol R. Edmead we see sort of the opposite. A dispute, a battle, 6 years go by, and then a second…
Funding Malpractice and Its Relationship to Legal Malpractice
New York Univ. v International Brain Research Fund., Inc. 2016 NY Slip Op 30434(U) March 14, 2016 Supreme Court, New York County Docket Number: 652954/2013
Judge: Jeffrey K. Oing is a rare look into the medicine-research professional funding world. IBRF suddenly cut off funding to NYU, and litigation ensued. Whether in the legal malpractice…
An Older Case, An Up-To-Date Lesson
Analysis of the “but for” portion of the legal malpractice equation is the richest part of the problem. Departures tend to be obvious or patent; how they affect the viability of the case is the “but for” portion.
Russo v Rozenholc 2015 NY Slip Op 06029 [130 AD3d 492] July 9, 2015 Appellate Division, First…
The Pro-Se Litigant and a Whole Lot of Trouble
First words out of CLE lecturers in legal malpractice settings is “Don’t sue for fees!” Reason? Legal malpractice counterclaims. Tarshis & Hammerman, LLP v Hartig 2016 NY Slip Op 50393(U) Decided on March 18, 2016 Appellate Term, Second Department is a prime example. (Disclosure: Both of the plaintiff attorneys were Kings County ADAs as was…
Some Strange Family Business and Some Bedrock Principles
Cusimano v Schnurr 2016 NY Slip Op 01758 Decided on March 15, 2016 Appellate Division, First Department is a case of husband and wife versus Wife’s father and sister, and in true NY fashion, its all about real estate.
“As a brief summary, this case involves a series of disputes among family members who own…
A Law School Exam of a Legal Malpractice Case
Davis v Cohen & Gresser LLP 2016 NY Slip Op 50417(U) Decided on March 24, 2016
Supreme Court, New York County Ramos, J. presents a most complicated intertwined issue of tolling, statutes of limitation, successor-attorney problem, onset of statute issues, along with the Mental Health Law and guardianships.
The simple story is that Plaintiff became…