Earlier this week we looked at Lateral Inv. Mgt., LLC v Marcum, LLP 2024 NY Slip Op 33865(U) October 29, 2024 Supreme Court, New York County Docket Number: Index No. 154273/2023 Judge: Joel M. Cohen for a discussion of the statute of limitations for accounting malpractice claims. Today we look at the in pari
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.
Multiple Lessons from an Accounting Malpractice Case
Lateral Inv. Mgt., LLC v Marcum, LLP 2024 NY Slip Op 33865(U) October 29, 2024 Supreme Court, New York County Docket Number: Index No. 154273/2023 Judge: Joel M. Cohen has a wealth of issues and lessons. The first principle to take from this case is what is negligence, what is “basically” negligence and what…
An Unusual Way Out Of Arbitration
Being too poor to arbitrate is a unique way out of arbitration and in Villaver v Paglinawan 2024 NY Slip Op 04159 [230 AD3d 533] August 7, 2024
Appellate Division, Second Department allows plaintiff to bring the case back to Supreme Court.
“In an action for declaratory relief and to recover damages for legal malpractice…
Unwanted Guardianship and Judicial Estoppel
In a short but sweet explanation, the First Department explains why a client can blame the attorney after following the attorney’s advice and taking a particular position in Ingram Yuzek Gainen Carroll & Bertolotti, LLP v McCullar 2024 NY Slip Op 05406
Decided on October 31, 2024 Appellate Division, First Department.
“Defendant alleges that plaintiff…
A Pro-Se’s Long Journey to Dismissal
Pro-se litigation against attorneys is not a highly successful process. Legal malpractice rules are complex, and courts are ready to apply collateral estoppel and res judicata. Mehmeti v Karlin 2024 NY Slip Op 05285 Decided on October 24, 2024 Appellate Division, First Department is one such example.
“Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Mary V.
Legal Malpractice Claims in a Refinance Case Don’t Add Up
GIT Inc. v Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP, 2024 NY Slip Op 05486, Decided on November 07, 2024, Appellate Division, First Department is an excellent example of how Supreme Court will pick apart legal malpractice claims under the “but for” element of causation, and will evince little reluctance to decide how the underlying…
9/11 and Successor Counsel Litigation
Dimino v Jonathan C. Reiter Law Firm, PLLC 2024 NY Slip Op 33829(U) October 8, 2024 Supreme Court, New York County Docket Number: Index No. 805092/2024 Judge: Paul A. Goetz is a legal malpractice case based upon claims of negligent filing of a WTC Victim’s Compensation case.
“Plaintiffs, Nancy Dimino and Sabrina Dimino are the…
Contribution, Yes. Indemnification, No. Successor Counsel Liability, Not Mentioned
Braig v Baker 2024 NY Slip Op 51438(U) Decided on October 22, 2024 Supreme Court, Westchester County Giacomo, J. is an interesting case in which a $ 1M + settlement was obtained, but two sets of attorneys shied away from continuing the case against an employer of the driver. Attorney 2 seeks to blame…
Claims Concerning Experts in Legal Malpractice Cases Rarely Succeed
Although not a typical claim that the experts were badly selected, or were not competent, D’Angelo v Kujawski 2024 NY Slip Op 05200 Decided on October 23, 2024
Appellate Division, Second Department is really about experts. The case was decided on an analysis of the opposing experts in the underlying medical malpractice case.
“The plaintiff…
Legal Advice During a “Time Sensitive” Period
We rarely see the Appellate Division, or courts in general, take up the issue of a “time sensitive” setting in determining whether an attorney departed from good practice by telling the client to get advice from an outside attorney, especially where the advice comes up in a specialized area. In Porter v Bachner, 2024 NY…