Discovery in legal malpractice litigation often turn around the "but for" portion of the case. The question of why was the underlying case ultimately lost, why didn’t plaintiff succeed with successor counsel and why are we responsible for this bad outcome, are often heard, and usually must be dealt with. Here in Leviton Mfg. Co.,
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.
It’s Always the Case Within a Case in Legal Malpractice
Legal malpractice proofs have 4 elements. They are Departure, Proximity, "But for" and Ascertainable damages. The sad truth is that in almost every human endeavor, one may find departures. In a case that goes to trial, there are arguably many departures. A simple question must be asked: "Did this departure proximately cause permanent damage, and…
Conclusory Damages in Legal Malpractice
Yesterday, we looked at Escape Airports (USA), Inc. v Kent, Beatty & Gordon, LLP
2010 NY Slip Op 08981 ; Decided on December 7, 2010 ; Appellate Division, First Department in which Justice Kornreich was affirmed across the board.
One defense in legal malpractice cases is that damages are speculative, conclusory, or cannot be…
Judgment and Legal Malpractice
A unique principal in malpractice cases, both medical and legal is the question of professional judgment. In medicine, it is said that "medicine is an art and not a science" and in law, it is said that a legal malpractice action may not be based solely upon a failed strategy or question of professional judgment…
Relation-Back and Legal Malpractice
The case of Carl v. Cohen, Supreme Court, New York County, Justice Edmead 2009 NY Slip OP 30806(U), April 15, 2009 illustrates two distinct principals. The first is privilege and at issue communications and the second principal is relation-back and the statute of limitations.
The statute of limitations in legal malpractice is three years…
Charging Liens and Legal Malpractice
Emery Celli Brinckerhoff & Abady LLP v Rose; 2010 NY Slip Op 33288(U); November 23, 2010
Sup Ct, NY County; Judge: Joan A. Madden is a decision which outlines the law of charging liens and legal malpractice. In this particular case, attorneys were representing plaintiff in a series of interrlated but separate litigations, all…
Workers’ Compensation Liens and Legal Malpractice
The law and its rules changes as a matter of geography. A few miles to the south, rules are completely different. As an example, in NY a workers’ compensation carrier may recovery its payments to plaintiff after plaintiff successfullly sues a third-party. As an aside, there are any number of legal malpractice cases in which…
Further Refinements in Judiciary Law 487 and Legal Malpractice
Judiciary Law 487 may be the oldest statute in American (and in Anglo-American) jurisprudence. it dates from the first Statute of Westminster, adopted in England in 1275. Even almost 800 years later refinements continue to be made.
in Barrows v Alexander 2010 NY Slip Op 08506 ; Decided on November 19, 2010 ; Appellate Division…
A Puzzle in Legal Malpractice
We will be the first to say that we simply do not understand this Second Department decision. Kennedy v H. Bruce Fischer, Esq., P.C. ;2010 NY Slip Op 08709 ;Decided on November 23, 2010
Appellate Division, Second Department has the following two ideas that we cannot put together and harmonize: Plaintiff was able to…
The Borrowing Statute and Legal Malpractice
"It might seem unjust, or even perverse, for a pro se plaintiff to lose just because he happened to sue in his home state, instead of where he believes the injury occurred, and where an attorney probably would have recommended he sue. But the Court’s job is to apply applicable statutes fairly and…