Spanish company is in the business of exporting and selling olive oil. While in bankruptcy it arranges for ongoing sales to the US. US Company hires CPAs to do routine monthly billing and reconciliations which go wrong. How long does the representation go on, and does it comprise "continuous representation"? Is the commencement date for purposes
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.
Specialists may now be Specialists
There are some attorney specialists in NY. There is board certification in DWI litigation, in Legal Malpractice, in Medical malpractice and there are Board certified civil trial specialists. Until a few days ago, if one who was board certified used that title in any letterhead or ad, the following disclaimer was necessary: ""[1] The [name…
Legal Malpractice and Collateral Estoppel
"The best defense is a strong offense"…"Tyranny shall not go unopposed!" which of these two opposing story lines will succeed in a legal fee / legal malpractice case. Here is one example where the fee side wins out. Duane Morris LLP v Astor Holdings Inc. , 2009 NY Slip Op 02544
Decided on April 2…
Conversion of Escrow Funds and Legal Malpractice
Attorneys hold funds for clients, and many attorneys get in trouble because of it. Just this week two disciplinary cases were published. In one the brother of an attorney converted a large sum from the escrow account. The attorney was suspended for failing to supervise his brother. Here, the attorney resigns in the face of…
Thinking of a way around the Statute of Limitations in Legal Malpractice
Litigants faced with the 3 year statute of limitations often turn to a fraud cause of action. Fraud has a 6 year statute of limitations, and in some instances an even longer discovery statute, which would be 2 years after discovery of the fraud. It’s inviting and promises a cause of action when the legal…
Spoliation in a Legal Malpractice Case
What happens to a legal malpractice case when documents suddenly go missing? Is there a responsibility to maintain documents from the underlying case based upon letters and discovery demands in the underlying case? How does a $ 20 million legal malpractice case get dismissed well before the merits are ever tested?
Can Experts Commit Professional Malpractice
We were recently asked whether an Expert, testifying in a legal malpractice case can commit legal malpractice during testimony in the case. We discussed whether there was an attorney-client relationship, and whether "absolute immunity" for in-court testimony applied. Now, Levine v Harriton & Furrer, LLP ; 2012 NY Slip Op 01401 ; Decided on February…
The Back Story in a Legal Malpractice Case
It really does not get any better than this, in the legal malpractice world. Client asks "Does the Judge dislike me?" Attorney answers "No, the judge is fair." In this story, however, it is all reversed. From Thomson Reuters, "Judge Steps Aside in Case of Alleged Car vandal"
"NEW YORK, Feb 24 (Reuters) –…
Professionals In the Middle and Malpractice
Gardner v Leitgeb & Vitelli, LLP ;2012 NY Slip Op 50282(U) ;Decided on February 17, 2012 ;Supreme Court, Suffolk County ;Emerson, J. presents an interesting story of parents v. children, with professionals in the middle. More interesting, fraud, associatinos with organized crime, and a pizza location are all added in the mix of ingrediants. …
Legal Malpractice and Equitable Estoppel
Equitable Estoppel is a principal which comes into play most often when a case is not commenced within the statute of limitations. The theory is that plaintiff was lulled into not starting the case by a wrongful act of defendant. Considering that blown statutes of limitations are one well recognized basis for legal malpractice cases…