We predict that Facebook, Inc. v DLA Piper LLP (US) 2015 NY Slip Op 09602 Decided on December 29, 2015 Appellate Division, First Department will turn out to be a highly cited and influential case in 2016. The general sentiment, even in the face of conduct strongly suggesting deceit is basically to look the other
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’s New Years Eve and There’s Little News
Yesterday the Facebook case surfaced, and sadly, there is little news to report today in the Legal Malpractice world. Take a look at the Prof. Anita Bernstein article in the NYLJ called “Legal Malpractice Liability for Criminal Defense: Rare Yet Possible”
Have a happy New Year’s celebration. See you next week.
An Extraordinary Standard for Judiciary Law 487
It appears that there is a higher standard for Judiciary Law 487 than any other part of the common law. Remember, JL 487 is the common law of the State of New York, and is not “merely” a statute. (Melcher v. Greenberg Taurig LLP.). Yet, the standard is actually higher. Chowaiki & …
When Does the Statute of Limitations Begin to Run?
Law firm consults on a group of three loans that Plaintiff plans to make. The loans are to be secured by life insurance policies as well as by real property in Pennsylvania. The law firm fails to file the correct lien documents and the loans are not secured. This is a big, multi-million dollar loss. …
When Is A Claim for Breach of Fiduciary Duty Duplicitive?
Plaintiff makes a loan using an attorney. The attorney is hired to make sure the loan is collateralized and if not paid, there will be a security interest in other property. The law firm fails to file the correct lien papers, and the loan is lost. While this might be legal malpractice, is it also…
It’s Christmas and We’re Away
Thanks for taking a look at the blog over 2015. We’re taking a couple of days off. We’ll be back on December 28. See you then.
The Fight Over Fees Was As Big As The Fight Over Liability
Labor Law Cases which arise from construction accidents often have large numbers attached to them. After all, people can get really hurt when they fall on a construction site. So was the situation in Doviak v Lowe’s Home Ctrs., Inc. 2015 NY Slip Op 09333 Decided on December 17, 2015 Appellate Division, Third Department.
The…
A Poster Child for Privity as a Hurdle in Legal Malpractice
Imagine that Wife owns a co-operative apartment and has some undefined problems there. Litigation ensues, and at a settlement conference her husband, who is not a party, is escorted from the robing room because of disruptive conduct. Rather than simply remain calm, or fume, husband, who has a rich history of litigating frivolous issues, sues…
A Marriage Gone Sour, A Divorce Gone Sour, and Now Contempt
The retaining lien, a powerful tool for attorneys to force payment of legal fees, is but one of a number of strategies in the eternal attorney fee dispute world. MG v RG 2015 NY Slip Op 51851(U) Decided on December 10, 2015 Supreme Court, Kings County Adams, J. is an example of the lengths to…
The Question of Experts in Summary Judgments Motions is Now Settled
As happens from time to time, outlier Appellate Division decisions give rise to a new rule of law, which sometimes does not make sense. The question of when a party has to disclose experts is unique in NY law. Corresponding Federal practice has rigid discovery dates, preclusion if the expert is not disclosed, depositions of…