Its not always easy to say when the last date upon which an attorney renders service to a client, nor when the statute of limitations commences. . is it on the day that a defective security agreement is prepared? is it on the day that the security agreement is given to debtor? In this case
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.
Avoiding Malpractice with Checklists
An interesting article in today’s New York Law Journal discusses the effects of checklists. Brook Boyd writes: "Lawyers can dramatically improve the quality, efficiency, and speed of their work by using "smart" checklists that are digitally integrated with their forms, and that reflect the complexity of their practices. But there are also other very…
Protecting the Record in Legal Malpractice
Barely submerged below the decisions of trial and appellate courts is the fear that if legal malpractice litigation is given full rein, there will be a legal malpractice case which immediately follows every trial of any nature. After all, the one thing that legal malpractice always has are claims of attorney misrepresentation, and every trial…
Going Way Way Way Too Far
Attorney retainer agreements often seem to be contracts of adhesion…a term we rarely see post-law school. Client comes to attorney at many disadvantages. Client is in trouble, is coming to a "wise man" seeking help, knows that client needs to pay, and is subject to a serious disparity between their bargaining positions. Nevertheless, the vast…
The Court of Appeals Decides a Legal Malpractice Case, and yet…
In Dombrowski v Bulson 2012 NY Slip Op 04203 [19 NY3d 347] May 31, 2012 Lippman, Ch. J.
Court of Appeals decided that incarceration – loss of liberty was not an economic damage, and was "non-pecuniary." It wrote: "We see no compelling reason to depart from the established rule limiting recovery [*4]in legal malpractice actions…
Effectively Compelled Settlements in Legal Malpractice
Client settles case and then turn around and sues attorney who settled the case for client, or worse (for the attorney) client settles case on his own, and then sues attorney who was already off the case. Can a client sue for legal malpractice after settling the case? The answer is yes, if the settlement…
A Practice Guide: What is Sufficient Notice for a Summons With Notice
Here is the tension: in order to toll the statute of limitations one must commence an action. Sometimes there is not enough time to prepare a competent complaint and file it,. The solution is a summons with notice. The notice requirement is what separates a good summons (which may lead to a default judgment) from…
Consolidation or Joint Trial of a Multi-Party Legal Malpractice Case
A crane topples at East 51st Street, and wrecks the development of a big building. In the fallout, three legal malpractice law suits ensue, with many big-name attorneys suing or being sued. How do the cases all fit together for trial?
Arbor Realty Funding, LLC v Herrick, Feinstein LLP 2013 NY Slip Op 51210(U) Decided…
Charging Liens,Retaining Liens and Child Support
What happens when two deserving parties vie over the same zero-sum pot of money? In this case it is a hard-working attorney with a charging lien and the children in a child-support proceeding upstate. In Piccarreto v Mura 2013 NY Slip Op 23241 Decided on July 3, 2013 Supreme Court, Monroe County, Judge Dollinger writes a…
Must Plaintiff Exhaust all Appeals before a Legal Malpractice Case?
Up until now, we had always thought the question was answered and no was no longer in doubt. One need not exhaust all appeals before starting a legal malpractice case. In Grace v Law
2013 NY Slip Op 05383 Released on July 19, 2013 Appellate Division, Fourth Department we were surprised to see the…