Sometimes the question of legal malpractice is at the forefront of a case, and sometimes it is the least important part. in K2 Inv. Group, LLC v American Guar. & Liab. Ins. Co. 2014 NY Slip Op 01102 [22 NY3d 578] February 18, 2014 Judge Smith of the Court of Appeals makes the rare
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.
Negligent Drug Testing and Legal Malpractice: Not the Same!
Plaintiff is on probation and gives an oral sample for drug testing. Kroll labs tests the saliva and finds THC. An independent urine drug test taken as a safety measure by Plaintiff is negative. Plaintiff’s probation period is extended. There are no pecuniary losses. May Plaintiff recover.
Here, yes. If it were legal malpractice, no. Why? …
A Trial, A Loss for Plaintiff in Legal Malpractice
Not that many legal malpractice cases get tried, and fewer even in Civil Court, New York County. here is one that went to defendant. Milgram Thomajan & Lee, P.C. v Golden Gate Petroleum, P.C. 2014 NY Slip Op 24063 [43 Misc 3d 68].
"The action arises out of plaintiff’s representation of the first-named defendant…
Students Strikes Out in Legal Malpractice Finals
Student – Plaintiff is charged with harassing a Cornell professor, and loses at the disciplinary and College level. Student then sues attorney for legal malpractice, breach of fiduciary duty and breach of contract. Case is lost simply because Plaintiff does not allege and show how the attorney could have won the Article 78 case showing…
Collateral Estoppel and Attorney Liens
Client hires attorney. Attorney successfully bails out just before trial. There is no expert. Medical malpractice case is dismissed because there is no expert. Attorney asserts a lien, and then when the lien is granted, defends a legal malpractice case on the basis of the lien. Is this fair?
Medical Malpractice and Legal Malpractice
Suing an attorney for his handling of a medical malpractice case is among the most complicated cases in law. Plaintiff must prove the negligence of two professionals and must do so with the use of experts in two separate fields. One common scenario is the attorney who bails out just before trial, or at summary…
Claim for Overbilling Not Duplicative of Legal Malpractice
Very common to legal malpractice litigation is a dismissal of contract causes of action as duplicative of the negligence claim. Postiglione v Castro 2014 NY Slip Op 05527
Decided on July 30, 2014 Appellate Division, Second Department is an example of how a contract cause of action survives.
"In the order appealed from dated…
An Intramural Fight in the Personal Injury Big Leagues
Jacoby & Meyers and Finkelstein & Partners are players in the personal injury big leagues. Finkelstein & Partners may be the biggest law firm in NY state. In any event, they deal with a huge number of personal injury cases. One of the biggest concerns in personal injury litigation is who will pay for the expenses as the…
When Does Failure to Inform Tip Over Into Judiciary Law 487?
AQ Asset Mgt., LLC v Levine 2014 NY Slip Op 05244 Decided on July 10, 2014 Appellate Division, First Department is a big commercial case with lots of overspill into legal malpractice and claims of Judiciary Law 487 violations.
"By an amended stock purchase agreement (SPA) effective December 9, 2005, defendants Habsburg and Patrizzi…
“Sufficiently Calculable” and the Statute of Limitations
In legal malpractice cases there is often a long latency period. In transactional work, that might translate to the time between a deal and the day it goes sour. That’s exactly the situation in Elstein v Phillips Lytle, LLP 2013 NY Slip Op 05132 [108 AD3d 1073] July 5, 2013 Appellate Division, Fourth Department. …