Fighting in the trenches during WW1 was said to be dirty and without any rules. It often seems that the same situation obtains for third-party litigation between law firms, one of which was responsible for failing to file a mortgage. Fighting over money is the domain of attorneys, it can be dirty, and seemingly without rules and
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.
Is Depression a Defense to Legal Malpractice?
In this upstate 4th Department grievance/disciplinary case we see the effect an attorney can have on the lives of his clients. Plaintiffs’ house burns down, and they retain this attorney to represent them. He waits until the very last day to file, and then allows the case to be dismissed on discovery shortcomings. The homeowners…
As Mortgage Litigation Expands So Does Legal Malpractice Litigation
Sub-prime mortgages and mortgage litigation in general has expanded if not exploded. New rules, new fees, limitations and new court parts have all followed in the wake. Borrowers who lose at the mortgage litigation stage then look to legal malpractice as a follow up. in Jay v. Gallagher
2011 NY Slip Op 32563(U); September 20…
Are Attorneys Held to an Easier Standard in Legal Malpractice?
We sometimes ponder whether attorneys are held to a lesser standard in Legal Malpractice, or to put it a different way, are plaintiffs in legal malpractice forced to overcome sympathy for attorneys? It cannot be argued that there is a fourth element in legal malpractice – the "but for" rule – that exists no where…
Legal Malpractice and Death
Much of what we report is legal malpractice, and that almost always deals with money. What did plaintiff lose? How much was plaintiff required to pay? What are the attorney fees? Why is plaintiff liable to pay an attorney some money? All important questions, and often they tell of a subtext of injury, divorce, disenfranchisement…
The Metaphysics of Continuous Representation in Legal Malpractice
When does continuous representation end? Sometimes there is a specific event (a judgment, a verdict, a motion decision) and sometimes there is a specific event plus a specific period of time (the date of the injury + three years) and sometimes continuous representation ends when the parties believe it ends. So it is in Hadda …
A Divorce Legal Malpractice Case in the 4th Department
Malachowski v Daly ; 2011 NY Slip Op 06720 ; Decided on September 30, 2011 ; Appellate Division, Fourth Department is a divorce legal malpractice case from Utica, and it demonstrates two things. Plaintiff must, early on, set the tone and state the claims in bills of particular and during early discovery, and once having…
A Long Series of Estate-Legal Malpractice Transactions
Decedent hires attorney to prepare a will, and to make changes to beneficiaries for her assets. As one might predict, something goes wrong. in Gurvitz v Wank; 2011 NY Slip Op 32511(U); September 19, 2011; Supreme Court, Nassau County; Docket Number: 10468/06; Judge: Ute W. Lally we see the results. The litigation goes on…
Overriding and Abiding Conflicts of Interest
Might we trust our attorneys? Can a plaintiff be assured that the attorneys are not conspiring with defendants to "carve" up the settlement between them. Our system is based upon trust and loyalty, and a belief in the incentive of success. However…
It need not always be true. as an example, the Second Circuit reversed…
It’s Not Always Legal Malpractice; Sometimes It’s Financial Controls
Legal malpractice is ubiquitous and might be expected at any attorney-client interface. What is not expected, nor routine is the big loss of escrow funds. News cycles have more and more reported on "rogue" traders/professionals. Here is a big one in the law world from the NY Law Journal:
Client Sues Crowell Over Missing Escrow
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