There are a lot of law firms that take on medical malpractice cases. In the past, medical malpractice litigation was more lucrative than it is today. At one time, attorneys were permitted a 33.3% fee. Now, it is on a lower sliding scale. At one time physicians were willing to testify at trial for a
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.
A Legal Malpractice Case Lost; It Was Too Soon
Legal malpractice cases sometimes face a conundrum. The three year statute of limitations is approaching, yet the case is not finished. Attorney 1 (the potential target) is out, and Attorney 2 is continuing the case. What does the careful plaintiff do?
One solution (which requires the court agree) is to start the case and then…
Legal Malpractice and Decedent’s Estate
Privity in legal malpractice law is one of the major stumbling blocks. People definitely suffer from the acts of attorneys, yet may not be in a direct contractual relationship with the attiring. Executors and estates are one prime example, and in the past (before Schneider v. Finmann) had almost no ability to sue the…
One of the Many Ways to Dismiss a Judiciary Law 487 Case
Judiciary Law 487 does not have special pleading requirements as does Fraud. It has not in the past been subject to CPLR 3016. It is not a species of Fraud…it is the common law. However, courts are general not friendly to JL 487 and find a plethora of ways to dismiss. Betz v Blatt
2014 NY…
Defendants’ Summary Judgment Leads to Plaintiff’s Success
Defendants took a very aggressive approach to a legal malpractice case, and in a turnaround, the Court awarded summary judgment to plaintiff. One wonders what would have happened if no motion was made in the first place.
Walker v Kramer 2014 NY Slip Op 33372(U) December 22, 2014 Supreme Court, Suffolk County Docket Number: 5219/07 …
No Privity, No Case in Legal Malparctice
Legal malpractice law is quite protective of attorneys. One institutional reason is that is is self-created and self-regulated by attorneys. An example of the protection is the "privity" rule, which states that one may not sue an attorney for legal malpractice, with very limited exceptions, unless there is a contractual relationship between plaintiff and attorney.
A World Class Class Action Law Firm and Some Uncertain Undercurrents
Napoli Kaiser Bern is a well known class action law firm that is currently said to be breaking apart with melodramatic reports of sexual escapades, lack of fidelity and general ennui. Whether the partners will make up, or part ways, they all face some problems in the Fen-Phen litigation, as many of the clients allege…
Legal Malpractice, Yes; Indemnity, No.
Plaintiff hires an attorney to handle a NJ accounting proceeding. The case is dismissed on failure to engage in discovery. The other side is granted costs and attorney fees if the case is brought once again. Client hires attorney 2 to bring the action again. Attorney 2 warns client of penalties which might accrue on…
A Plethora of Mistakes in a Legal Malpractice Case
Borges v Placeres 2014 NY Slip Op 08910 Decided on December 23, 2014 Appellate Division, First Department is a compendium of mistakes in a legal malpractice. This case was tried in Civil Court, was appealed to the Appellate Term, and from there to the Appellate Division. Plaintiff lost in all spheres.
Mistakes: Failure to raise…
Accounting Malpractice and Continuing Representation
Just as in Legal Malpractice, the principal of continuing representation tolls the three year statute of limitations in accounting malpractice. The rules of burden shift from defendant to plaintiff are similar too.
Schwartz v Leaf, Salzman, Manganelli, Pfiel, & Tendler, LLP 2014 NY Slip Op 08823 Decided on December 17, 2014 Appellate Division, Second…