"The Cobbler’s Son had no shoes…" is an ancient way of saying that people attend to the needs of others, including clients, while ignoring the requirements closer to home. While the decision does not make this analogy, nor does it explicitly hinge the reasoning on the lack of an affidavit of plaintiff, we wonder whether
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.
“Tough Old Bird” or Criminal? Either Way, its Legal Malpractice
Today’s NYLJ article by Daniel Wise chronicles the chilling story of an attorney who put his own freedom at risk in order to stymie a former client, and a successor attorney. Why, and the clumsy method undertaken is the mystery. in In re: RUBY G. EMANUEL, Debtor.;Chapter 7, Case No. 97-44969 (SMB); UNITED…
Criminal Defense and Legal Malpractice
The rule is pretty clear; one may not sue a criminal defense attorney unless there is a showing of innocence. Innocence means acquittal or reversal on appeal. Here, in Peo v. Radcliff is a stunning example of how and why the rule exists. In this case, defendant was convicted after a bench trial. The implication…
How Does an Attorney End the Relationship and Avoid Legal Malpractice?
A recurring problem in medical malpractice cases is one in which the attorneys take on a case, start the case, and then at the critical juncture when an expert has to be named, abandon the case. From a business point of view, this behavior is incomprehensible. On further reflection, it seems to us that the…
Successor Counsel or Not in a Legal Malpractice Case
An often found situation in legal malpractice cases is the successor counsel problem. In a nutshell, here it is. Plaintiff hires attorney 1 who makes a mistake. Plaintiff finds out about the mistake, which has not led to outright dismissal, but rather, to a problem. Plaintiff hires attorney 2 who is unable to solve the…
Defective Retainer Agreements, Fees and Legal Malpractice
Rule 1215, setting forth the necessity for a retainer agreement between attorney and client, has some very strong language. Under the rule, in the absence of a retainer agrement, no legal fee can be enforced. This is the rule, no?
Actually, no. A case this week in the Appellate Division, First Department underscores the…
When is a Settlement not a Settlement?
It’s just a few words spoken to the record, and in this case, none of the participants dispute what was the agreement between the parties, yet, here, a settlement was not a settlement, and all because the judge made a decision and held firmly to it.
In Diarassouba v Urban ;2009 NY Slip Op…
Lose the Trial, Lose the Legal Malpractice Case – A Contradiction?
One might think that after a loss of the underlying case, a legal malpractice action will undoubtedly be successful. That thought is, of course, naive. As an example. suppose you are a landlord and owner of a commercial setting who sells to buyer, who is to pay for the sale over time. buyer disappears, and…
Another Unusual Legal Malpractice Case and Comparative Negligence
Nate Raymond of the NYLJ reports a second unusual legal malpractice case, this time with an attorney as the plaintiff. He sues over a case concerning his former law office and whether he was due money in the wake of its breakup. "Partnership law expert Leslie Corwin is being sued by an attorney he represented…
Large Legal Malpractice Case: Mistake or a Sign of the Financial Times?
Nate Raymond of the NYLJ reports on a $55 Million legal malpractice case Ableco Finance LLC v. Hilson, Ippolito and Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker LLP arising from loans made to a large retailer, and events after the loan went sour, bankruptcy filings, and apparently a big pay back by the lender in Bankruptcy Court.
"A…