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.
Well, actually not "buying" the case and not losing the "receipt", nevertheless, plaintiff purchased 50% of an intended legal malpractice case and then lost the contract…or did he?
Pearlman v Faulisi 2013 NY Slip Op 31963(U) August 7, 2013 Supreme Court, Suffolk County
Docket Number: 15123-2011 Judge: Emily Pines. "In the Amended Verified Complaint…
Reading this case produces an image of a train rolling through the countryside, without anyone at the controls. It is the story of a car accident, an unjoined party, and mistake after mistake. In the end plaintiffs are non-suited and all the efforts are for naught.
In the construction industry, bonding is extremely important. Huge jobs, and large expenditures of money are based upon the belief that there is a pot of money protecting the process. Sub-contractors provide work and materials on the basis that there is someone who will pay, eventually. Sometimes it goes wrong, and a wedge of the…
Businesses grow huge, make multi-million dollar loans (read: $ 125 million+) and buy/sell huge ongoing and decrepit stores. How do they go astray? We see one example in Ableco Fin. LLC v Hilson 2013 NY Slip Op 05665 Decided on August 20, 2013 Appellate Division, First Department . Was it attorney error, or merely a…
Time limitations and continuing representation are a constant issue in legal malpractice cases. When the statute begins to run and how long it may be tolled are sub-issues. Cordero v Koval Rejtig & Dean PLLC; 2013 NY Slip Op 31893(U) ; August 8, 2013; Supreme Court, New York County ; Docket Number: 113450/11; Judge:…
In this case, the court permits client to plead fraud even though legall malpractice is time barred. Why? Unsophisticated client retains attorney for a first time purchase of a business. Attorney undertakes complicated transaction for $ 3000. As soon as the contract is ready, attorney tells client to sign a wavier, and then seems to…
Accounting malpractice, like any other variant of professional malpractice (attorneys, brokers, financial professionals) are all subject to a three year statute of limitations, which may be tolled for continuous representation. In Ghiz v Schreck & Co. 2013 NY Slip Op 31869(U) August 9, 2013
Sup Ct, New York County Docket Number: 158805/2012 Judge: Eileen…
Legal malpractice, and its cousin deceit might be found anywhere attorneys tend problems. One fairly startling setting is the Poly Prep sex abuse litigation. Like the similar Horace Mann sexual abuse litigation, there are numerous claims of concealment and lying. Andrew Keshner writes in today’s New York Law Journal that former students have filed a…
We’re pleased to announce an article in the New York Law Journal, entitled When the "Attorney-Client Relationship Ends" appears today in the Outside Counsel column. Here is an excerpt from the article:
"As do all things in life, an attorney-client relationship, once commenced must someday end. It may end at the settlement or verdict of…
When does the statute of limitations begin to run? It might be on the day of the mistake, and it might be later. The "later cases" are rare, and few in number. Anderson v Beranbaum 2013 NY Slip Op 31821(U) August 5, 2013 Sup Ct, New York County Docket Number: 151918/2013
Judge: Anil C. Singh…
