Wherever attorneys do their work the question of legal malpractice may arise. In today’s New York Law Journal, Joel Cohen and James Bernard present an excellent compilation of potential legal malpractice issues in the ESI area. Investigation of electronically stored information has become a central issue in litigation since the Zabulake v. USB Warburg decision. 
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.
Law Firm Strikes Out Twice in One Case
It seems that Lacher & Lovell-Taylor PC were attorneys working for Lloyd’s of London. They ran into disputes with the carrier, and in this New York county case, not only had to pay back monies, but were also found not to be covered for a malpractice case. Here the AD determines that a demand for the…
It Takes Pro-Se Litigants to Change the Law of Legal Malpractice
Legal Malpractice, we often think, is a body of law, written by lawyers, concerning lawyers, judged by lawyers and results in decisions concerning solely lawyers. However, sometimes this is simply not true. Venecia V. v August V. 2013 NY Slip Op 08140 Decided on December 5, 2013 Appellate Division, First Department Saxe, J., J. …
Standing and Documents in Legal Malpractice
Small closely held corporations abound in New York, and they present a special issue for the principal of standing in legal malpractice. Who actually hired the attorney…was it the president / owner / sole shareholder, or was it the corporate entity. While the law is clear, Rodolico v Rubin & Licatesi, P.C. 2013 NY Slip…
Finding the Departure is Easy…It’s the Rest that is Hard in Legal Malpractice
Battling over the "but for" portion of the legal malpractice requirements is generally where commercial cases such as Garten v Shearman & Sterling LLP 2013 NY Slip Op 00035
Appellate Division, First Department end up. Here, in a surprisingly clear recitation, the AD tells us why this case was doomed.
"On an appeal from…
Legal Malpractice and the Statute of Limitations
Sometimes events take place long after the attorney – client relationship has ended. There are two arguments over whether the statute of limitations has run. One is that the statute commences when the mistake is made and might be tolled by the continuous representation doctrine. The other is that the statute cannot commence to run…
A Lot of Really Unhappy Clients Left Behind
Attorney licensed in NY and California forms a partnership with a non-attorney to represent home owners under water across the country. Around 2011 the attorney goes to Hawaii to change his name from Sean Alan Rutledge to Alan Frank. During this period of time his legal practice in California is unraveling.
"Respondent’s disciplinary proceedings in…
How Could Two Parties So Disagree On The Facts?
In this legal malpractice case which was dismissed and then affirmed on appeal, the decision reveals so wide a difference in analysis of the corporate and loan documents that it is astonishing. In Manus v Flamm 2013 NY Slip Op 07683 Decided on November 19, 2013 Appellate Division, First Department plaintiff presents a claim that…
Statute of Limitations in Legal Malpractice
We’re proud and pleased that the New York Law Journal published "Statute of Limitations in Legal Malpractice" today. From the article:
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The statute of limitations sets the maximum time during which an action for damages may be commenced. It is of ancient heritage. Its first appearance in Anglo-American law is as early as 1237.
Legal Malpractice Island or Archepelago ?
Here is a textbook example of how the statute of limitations in legal malpractice is stretched to the extreme, yet plaintiff loses. In 2003 defendants wrote an opinion letter which was contrary to the IRS determination which came in 2007. Attorneys (or related attorneys) were retained in 2007 to fight the IRS and lost in…