The Defendant in this case was a well known (and ground-breaking) legal malpractice attorney who has been in a swirl of late career litigation. There have been RICO cases, there have been intra-office blow-ups, and herein this case he was sued for legal malpractice. However, here, all went wrong for plaintiff.
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.
Case is Trimmed but Remains Viable in Legal Malpractice
There are at least three forms of pleading available in a legal malpractice case. The first is malpractice itself, the second breach of contract and the third breach of fiduciary duty. For legal malpractice "a plaintiff must demonstrate that the attorney failed to exercise the ordinary reasonable skill and knowledge commonly possessed by a member…
Was the Appeal a Good Idea in Legal Malpractice?
Sometimes, its just better not to continue the fight. Sometimes, when it seems things can’t get worse, they might anyway. In Mizuno v Fischoff & Assoc. ;2011 NY Slip Op 01811 ;Decided on March 8, 2011 ;Appellate Division, Second Department defendant attorneys had already lost the fight and had been found to be…
A Familiar Story With No Legal Malpractice Consequences
Where else in the world of law might a party say that they had definitely made a mistake, and definitely departed from good practice, yet be immune? We’re not talking about an act too many years ago, or an act that was compelled. Here, in a familiar but fascinating story, attorney Diarmuid White freely admits…
How Imprecise Decisions Lead to Imprecise Law in Malpractice
In the sister practice of Medical Malpractice much is similar. The two bodies of law concern the work of professionals, each "treating" or "representing" people. The laws of negligence apply to both, and both departure and causation must be proved at trial.
The rules of Summary judgment, well settled, and with a history of their…
Has Someone Discovered a Brand New Legal Malpractice Theory?
Last year brought estate v. estate attorney legal malpractice after the Schneider decision in the Court of Appeals. Today’s NYLJ brings the story of a law suit against Jacoby & Meyers and Whitehaven Financial Group for legal malpractice and usury. They re-printed the complaint
As all know, there are lending entities that are willing to bet on…
Suing a Lawyer, But It is Not Legal Malpractice
Once upon a time there were different statutes of limitation for different ways of suing a lawyer. The Court of Appeals recognized a 6 year contract statute and a 3 year tort statute. The legislature changed all that, passing CPLR 324(6) "an action to recover damages for malpractice, other than medical, dental or podiatric malpractice…
Internal Musings and Legal Malpractice
We read through this case looking for the legal malpractice connection with Gibson Dunn. It took a while. Take a look at this case just to see how many attorneys are listed below the caption. We think this may be a record.
When is an e-mail discoverable in a legal malpractice case? In this instance it…
Is It Split the Baby in Legal Fee Arbitration?
Today’s NYLJ reports a very large attorney fee arbitration award involving "Schulte Roth & Zabel which has been awarded $1.7 million in legal fees as a result of a civil suit filed against private investment firm and former client The Belstar Group."
For the commercial details, see the NYLJ article. Here, it seems that the…
The Problem of Expert Selection and Legal Malpractice
Experts are often needed in litigation, and always in medical malpractice litigation. Med Mal cases are lost and it is sometimes thought that they are lost because of experts. Was the expert good enough? Did the expert "give" the departures?
In Healy v Finz & Finz, P.C. 2011 NY Slip Op 01616 Decided on March…