Hearing that your legal malpractice case is "unavailing" is terrifying. Nevertheless, this case was dismissed, appealed, reversed, remanded, and immediately dismissed again, this time on summary judgment. Garnett v Fox, Horan & Camerini, LLP 2013 NY Slip Op 30703(U) April 5, 2013 Sup Ct, New York County Docket Number: 114079/2008 Judge: Cynthia S. Kern
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.
Speculative Contentions and Legal Malpractice
Legal malpractice plaintiffs argue that defendant attorney handled the case badly, and then go on to say that if the attorney had done "x", there would have been a better or different outcome. Defendant argues that this is all "speculation." If you were the Court, how would you decide? Remember that legal malpractice analysis is always…
The Long Long Saga of Collectibility and Linderman
One of the cornerstones of legal malpractice law is that any hypothetical judgment that plaintiff should have received must have been collectible. If defendant had filed a bankruptcy petition, or there was no insurance and no assets, then any hypothetical judgment that the attorneys did not obtain would not have been collectible, hence, there are…
To Consolidate or Not to Consolidate in Legal Malpractice
Consolidation or a joint trial are subject to judicial discretion. Judges are said to be the master of their calendar, and the Appellate Division rarely steps in and rearranges it. Here, inCounty of Westchester v White Plains Ave., LLC 2013 NY Slip Op 02212 Decided on April 3, 2013
Appellate Division, Second Department consolidation…
Attorneys Break Up, But The Fee Lives On
Wiggins v Kopko 2013 NY Slip Op 02312 Decided on April 4, 2013 Appellate Division, Third Department is a primer on attorney fees, contingent fees and what happens when the firm breaks up with the client and with itself.
"Kopko contends that plaintiff was discharged for cause due to alleged misconduct in his…
Fee Disputes, Legal Malpractice and Part 137
New York has a very comprehensive attorney fee-dispute arbitration process, detailed under 22 NYCRR 137. When does it apply, and how does a legal malpractice claim affect its application?
Wenig Saltiel, LLP v Secord 2013 NY Slip Op 23104 Decided on March 29, 2013 Appellate Term, Second Department is a nicely detailed explanation. Law firm…
Moral Obligations and Legal Malpractice
The essentials of legal malpractice litigation, including standing and ascertainable pecuniary loss come up over and over in the Appellate Division cases. Young v Quatela 2013 NY Slip Op 02243
Decided on April 3, 2013 Appellate Division, Second Department is an example. Plaintiff’s father either suffered the loss or paid for it, and there is…
What is the Statute of Limitations for Disgorgement and Breach of Fiduciary Duty
Breach of Fiduciary Duty has two separate statutes of limitation, six and three years. Which applies in a legal malpractice case? Generally the rule is that the choice of six or three years depends on the substantive remedy sought. If it is for money damages the limit is three years. If for equitable remedy, then…
Is Legal Malpractice a Disfavored Stepchild of the Law?
We wonder whether legal malpractice is treated differently than all other law suits? Fielding v Kupferman 2013 NY Slip Op 02008 Decided on March 26, 2013 Appellate Division, First Department raises the question once again. Compare this case to a garden or varietal slip and fall. Example: plaintiff trips over a defective step and…
Applying the Attorney Judgment Rule to Legal Malpractice Claims
we’re proud to announce that our article on the Attorney Judgment Rule was published by the New York Law Journal today.
"Medicine and law have ancient parallel histories. Each practices self-regulation, and each has developed deep and extensive internal rules of professional conduct. Both have a tentative claim as one of the world’s oldest professions.