One theme that we have considered over the years is whether attorneys get preferential treatment in legal malpractice litigation. Are motions to dismiss granted on too little evidence? Do the attorneys get the benefit of the doubt? Is the fact that legal malpractice law is written mostly by attorneys, is decided upon by attorneys 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.
9/11 and Judicary Law 487 in Legal Malpractice
9/11 is almost 10 years behind us. Its direct effects may have passed, but the indirect effects still resonate. Here is a fraud, foreclosure scam and legal malpractice case which arises out of the post 9/11 world.
Cullen v. Steinberg, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 62138 is a case in which plaintiff was the surviving…
Mistake Upon Mistake in Legal Malpractice
At the outset, we find that the Supreme Court improvidently exercised its discretion in, sua sponte, directing dismissal of the complaint insofar as asserted against the Meighan defendants pursuant to CPLR 3211(a)(4) in view of the continued pendency of the first legal malpractice action against those defendants, which relief was not requested by any party…
A Pro-se Legal Malpractice Case Falters
Tsafatinos v Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker, LLP ;2010 NY Slip Op 06085 ;decided on July 13, 2010 ;Appellate Division, Second Department is short on details as to how and why the legal malpractice case was filed on a date the Appellate Division determined to be too late. The rules, however, are clear:
…
A Bad-good Result is not Legal Malpractice
Justice Gische, of Supreme Court, New York County has written a number of legal malpractice decisions over the years. One recently decided is Kleinser v Astarita NY Slip Op 31675U.
Here, plaintiff was a trader and employee of Rockrimon Securities. He was fired by them and sued. The case was litigated before Justice Ramos. At…
Its Not Legal Malpractice or Attorney Fees, But the Priniciple is the Samem
Justice Goodman of Supreme Court, New York County has a caseload full of legal malpractice cases. Here is an accounting malpractice case coming as a counterclaim for accounting fees, but the idea is just the same. In Perelson Weiner, LLP v Allison 06/29/2010 Supreme Court, New York County, Goodman, J. the claim was that client…
Judgment and Legal Malpractice
LOK PRAKASHAN, LTD. -v.- RALPH A. BERMAN, DAVIDOFF MALITO & HUTCHER, LLP,
No. 09-0136-cv; UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT;2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 22988 is an example of the Court’s continued romance with the concept that litigation is an art and not a science.
What is a question of judgment? " "A…
Attorney Fees, Termination for Cause and Legal Malpractice
Fees and Attorneys seem to be a dyad that never stops recurring. More correctly put, disputes about fees and attorneys have been here forever. we’re certain that the bible contains some commentary, and we do know that Abraham Lincoln had attorney fee cases in his docket. Here is a decision from Judge Scheindlin on the…
Winning the Legal Malpractice Case, Losing the War
In this most simple of legal malpractice cases, plaintiff was the victim of a rear-end Motor Vehicle accident. She retained attorney who failed to bring the action within the statute of limitations. Plaintiff sues attorney and settles for $ 50,000. which was the amount of the underlying car insurance. She is said to have sought…
Legal Malpractice in Russia and Here
One theme of this blog is that where ever attorneys represent clients [all over] there will be legal malpractice claims. GUS Consulting GMBH v Chadbourne & Parke LLP ;2010 NY Slip Op 05672 ;Decided on June 24, 2010 ;Appellate Division, First Department is a prime example. This case involves the Russian Tax Police, gas…