How does one prove that the settlement was not good enough, given the circumstances? How does one prove that had this or that taken place, that Husband would have paid less, and more to the point, how does one prove that Husband was the victim rather than the beneficiary of the settlement? It’s all in
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.
A Really Old Teacher Case and Legal Malpractice
Plaintiff is injured in 1982 and again in 1983. This month a legal malpractice case arising from the two cases was partially dismissed in Supreme Court, New York County. In the interim the world has changed.
Deutsch v Ullman 2012 NY Slip Op 30748(U) March 23, 2012 Sup Ct, New York County Docket Number: 110595/2010 …
A Legal Malpractice Case Fails
In Eighth Ave. Garage Corp. v Kaye Scholer LLP 2012 NY Slip Op 02402 Decided on March 29, 2012 Appellate Division, First Department Kaye Scholer defended itself, and obtained dismissal. Schwartz & Ponterio were unable to save the case for plaintiff.
The Court held that "Plaintiffs failed to allege facts in support of their…
A Big Condo Deal and Legal Malpractice
It’s difficult to say which is the more perplexing problem in this case. Is it the loose procedure in which a client put down $ 1.1 million on a condo with few safeguards, or the manner in which the legal malpractice case is being handled? in Cheong v Lau 2012 NY Slip Op 30725(U) March…
Overbilling, Malpractice and the Aftermath
Justice Goodman of Supreme Court, New York County hads a caseload full of legal malpractice cases before she retired. Here is an accounting malpractice case coming as a counterclaim for accounting fees, but the idea is just the same. InPerelson Weiner, LLP v Allison NY Slip Op 2010 31679 06/29/2010 Supreme Court, New York County…
An Endless Source of Legal Malpractice Litigation
Attorney fees are an endless source of conflict. They have always been an endless source of conflict. We faintly remember from high school that Abraham Lincoln was involved in attorney fee litigation. Today is no exception. in Landa v Blocker 2011 NY Slip Op 00191 ;Appellate Division, Second Department we see attorney fees in the…
What Happens When the Attorney Changes Firms?
The Law sites are consistently filled with stories of partners leaving firm A for firm B, and sometimes taking assoicates with them. Law firms fold and are re-cast as new firms. How does this restelss movement affect legal malpractice clients?
In The New Kayak Pool Corp. v Kavinoky Cook LLP ;2010 NY Slip Op 05176…
Nigerian Fraud Letters and Legal Malpractice
We commonly get two types of fraud letters, and they come all the time. One recent type is the "collaborative divorce" letter in which an offshore spouse needs help collecting a large equitable distribution check from the US spouse. Another type is the offshore large corporation that needs help collecting a debt from a US…
Its a Digital World, but Uncertainty Remains
Today, litigants are able to access so much more than in the past. When we started out, one read the NYLJ small print decisions from the AD, and there was no more modern way to get the news. Later, digital reporting has taken over. Yet, Supreme Courts do not regularly scan and publish decisions. This…
A Second Try at Summary Judgment in a Legal Malpractice Case
There is a rule against successive motions for summary judgment. The usual understanding is that you get one shot, and if you take it too early, or upon insufficient evidence, then too bad. However, in Alaimo v Mongelli 2012 NY Slip Op 02071 Decided on March 20, 2012 Appellate Division, Second Department we see a…