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.
In Bernard v Proskauer Rose, LLP ; 2011 NY Slip Op 06184 ; Decided on August 4, 2011 ; Appellate Division, First Department we see a situation in which plaintiff sues his attorneys, who defend by arguing that the plaintiff brought it all upon himself.
"In this action for legal malpractice, breach of fiduciary…
Equitable estoppel is an argument which posits that (for example) the statute of limitations should not bar an action, because defendant led plaintiff on, and kept plaintiff from timely filing a case. In WASHINGTON MUTUAL BANK, Plaintiff, -against- LESTER YOUNG, RAYMOND MAR, MARILYN HARRIS, AKA MARILYN SELLER, US BANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, et al, the…
When may a criminal defendant sue her criminal defense attorney? Almost never, and when it is permissible, usually in breach of contract. Here, in CAROL PEIRCE, -v- JAMES NEUMAN, Index Number 116678/2008; SUPREME COURT OF NEW YORK, NEW YORK COUNTY;2011 NY Slip Op 31812U; 2011 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 3288 we see a case which loses…
Intentional infliction of emotional distess is rarely alleged alongside a legal malpractice claim, but here in WASHINGTON MUTUAL BANK, Plaintiff, -against- LESTER YOUNG, RAYMOND MAR, MARILYN HARRIS, AKA MARILYN SELLER, US BANK NATIONAL ASSOCIATION,, et al, it is, to no avail.
"In its complaint, WaMu alleges that, on February 10, 2005, Harris and Mar…
It is often said (and sometimes sanctimoniously) that the legal malpractice claimant is simply trying to gain an advantage, or to avoid paying legal fees. Here, in Matter of Price ; 2011 NY Slip Op 05814 ; Decided on July 5, 2011 ; Appellate Division, Second Department we see a different use of the claim. …
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…
A prime worry for the legal malpractice practitioner, on either side of the aisle, is whether there is legal malpractice insurance. For the defendant, it is paramount; for the plaintiff it is significant. Much thought has gone into how to determine whether the target defendant has adequate [or indeed, any] insurance, and planning has to…
The Third Department gives a nice analysis of the law of "account stated" in its decision, Antokol & Coffin v Myers ;2011 NY Slip Op 06051 ;Decided on July 28, 2011 ;Appellate Division, Third Department .
""’An account stated is an agreement between parties to an account based upon prior transactions between them…
A viable legal malpractice case arising from a criminal prosecution is very rare. A criminal defendant may not sue the criminal defense attorney absent proof of "actual innocence." Actual innocence is typically defined as acquittal, reversal or exoneration. Here, in Dawson v Schoenberg; 2011 NY Slip Op 32033(U);July 8, 2011;Supreme Court, New York County…
Norman Arnoff writes in the NYLJ about professional liability, and concentrates in the SEC, securities and FINRA areas. He writes, in regard to the Madoff proceedings:
"From cases involving the fraud perpetrated by Bernard Madoff upon a series of feeder funds in order to pass investors’ funds into the fictitious accounts of his colossal Ponzi…
