It’s usually the Court of Appeals which issues a game changing decision, which sets stare decisis on its ear. From time immemorial, the question of privity has predominated the estate legal malpractice area. In essence, is the estate in privity with the attorney who set up the estate? Mostly the answer was no. Now, we
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.
Questions of Fact in a Med Mal/Legal Malpractice Case
We think the legal malpractice after a medical malpractice case is amongst the most difficult. In order to proceed, the attorney must be well versed in both fields, and must understand the psychological set up necessary to succeed. In our view, the psychological set up is that most courts are wary of medical malpractice cases…
Fallout from the Marc Drier Episode in a Legal Malpractice Setting
From the NYLJ on 6/16/10 by Nate Raymond: "Dechert Loses Bid to Dismiss Suit Over Letter Used by Dreier." The case is Fortress Credit Corp. v. Dechert LLP, 603819/2009
"Dechert has lost a motion to dismiss Fortress Investment Group LLC’s $50 million lawsuit over the law firm’s issuance of an "utterly false legal opinion…
Pro-se on both sides, One on One in Legal Malpractice
. Defendants sometimes say that a legal malpractice case is a grudge match, or a lawsuit based solely upon pique. Sometimes it is true, and the legal malpractice law suit serves as the last act of a badly ended attorney-client relationship.
Here in this case, we have a pro-se plaintiff pursuing a pro-se defendant, over…
When is an Apparent Conflict Not Enough for Legal Malpractice
Attorney represents X and then later represents X’s opponent in litigation. Aside from the fact that the opponent is X’s mother, when does such representation cause a conflict and legal malpractice? We see in Benaquista v Burke ;2010 NY Slip Op 04896 ;Decided on June 10, 2010
Appellate Division, Third Department that there is…
Life Estate Ended, Legal Malpractice Dismissal Reversed
Attorney and law firm arrange a house sale from plaintiff to defendant in which the sale price is well below market, and plaintiff retains a life estate in the house. At closing, everything starts to go wrong. Seller is persuaded to take a mortgage, and the attorney agrees to file the mortgage as well as…
Suspended Attorney is Still Due Fees
In an unusual procedural setting, a suspended attorney’s request for contingent legal fees in a medical malpractice action was denied by Justice Joan Carey, and then vacated by Justice Alice Schlesinger. in Warren v Del Principio 06/02/2010 Other Courts. Likely based upon her retiring last year, Justice Schlesinger took over her caseload, and likely took a…
Center of Gravity in Legal Malpractice
Details, Details! Is this a Connecticut or a New York Case? Is there standing or not? Who has the right to sue the attorneys? in JP MORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A., -against- LAW OFFICE OF ROBERT JAY GUMENICK, P.C., ET AL.,08 Civ. 2154 (VM);UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK;2010…
Mortgages, Imposters and Legal Malpractice
Perhaps its the economic downturn, perhaps just a coincidence, but we have heard of three "imposter" closing scenarios recently. Here is one that stands out. In Layton v Layton 06/04/2010 Other Courts 2010 NYSlipOp 31381(U) wife and husband are divorcing, and the marital house is to go to the wife. A closing is scheduled, and…
Judiciary Law 487 Article in the New York Law Journal
We’re proud to announce that the New York Law Journal today published an article about Judiciary Law 487.entitled An Explosion of Developments in Judiciary Law 487
"Legal concepts change by evolution and revolution. Evolution is the most familiar process in legal scholarship. A principle or a statute is analyzed, then re-interpreted in the light of…