A common and recognized mistake resulting in legal malpractice is the double use of an index number. in Wilk v Lewis & Lewis, P.C. ;2010 NY Slip Op 05897 ;Decided on July 2, 2010 ;Appellate Division, Fourth Department the index number came from an earl er pre-complaint discovery motion. It might also come in
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.
Bankruptcy, Standing and Legal Malpractice
What partners will do to each other continues to amaze. here, in Rock City Sound, Inc. v Bashian & Farber, LLP ;2010 NY Slip Op 05533 ;Decided on June 22, 2010 ;Appellate Division, Second Department. here, "A dispute arose between Kalish and Lindsay as to the Established Value of Kalish’s shares, and in August…
Is This Another Version of “Settlement Satisfaction” in Legal Malpractice?
Boone v Bender ;2010 NY Slip Op 05497 ;Decided on June 22, 2010 ;Appellate Division, Second Department is a matrimonial legal malpractice case. The Appellate Division decision does not shed much light on the allegations in the complaint.
Often, matrimonial legal malpractice cases rest on failures in investigation of the other spouses’ finances…
When is a Lawyer a Lawyer for Privilege or Legal Malpractice Purposes?
The recent decision in Gucci America Inc. v. Guess? Inc., doesn’t answer the legal malpractice question, but it does answer the privilege question. Here’s the back story from Noeleen Walder at the New York Law Journal:
"Mr. Moss, a graduate of Fordham University School of Law, passed the California bar exam in 1993 but…
A Case Continues in Legal Malpractice
In 601 Realty Corp. v Conway, Farrell, Curtin & Kelly, P.C. ;2010 NY Slip Op 05538 ;Decided on June 22, 2010 ;Appellate Division, Second Department we see the case continuing, with some rough edges removed. Conway Farrell used to be a big legal malpractice defense firm, until it split off. Now it is being defended…
Can Incorrect Explanation of the Contents of Documents be Legal Malpractice?
The answer is yes, it can. in Kram Knarf, LLC v Djonovic ;2010 NY Slip Op 05464 ;Decided on June 22, 2010 ;Appellate Division, First Department we see the following explanation:
"Accepting the facts alleged in the complaint as true and according plaintiffs the benefit of every possible favorable inference (see Leon v…
Breach of Fiduciary Duty and Duplicity in Legal Malpractice
In legal malpractice litigation there is a holy triumvirate of causes of action. In general, they are ranked in this order: legal malpractice, breach of fiduciary duty, and breach of contract. There is a well known principal that if duplicative, there must be dismissal of some of these causes of action.
Aiding and Abetting a Breach of Fiduciary Duty Lawsuit
Today’s New York Law Journal reports as news, and the Appellate Division, First Department reports as law a decision in McCagg v Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP ;2010 NY Slip Op 05463
Decided on June 22, 2010 ;Appellate Division, First Department an unusual case in which it is alleged that a law firm aided…
Attorneys Change Firms…How Does tha Affect the Client in Legal Malpractice?
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…
21 Years of Legal Malpractice Litigation
This legal malpractice case has been active for 21 years, and dates from the Club dominated 1980’s. Plaintiff is a model-actor-club owner who has had a $ 1.25 million judgment from what is described as an accident. "In December 1988, non-party David W. Ross ("Ross") allegedly had an accident and sustained injuries at the World…