Here, in an article from NY Lawyer is the shocking outcome of a huge London legal malpractice case. Linklatters, on trial for $ 55 Million ends up paying $ 5 [actually 5 pounds] as a nominal verdict. Queery: no motion for summary judgment? In NY courts, we see such outcomes in pre-answer motions and in motions for
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.
Insanity and Legal Malpractice
Is an attorney required to perform more work that set forth in a retainer agreement? If the attorney does not perform more work, will the statute of limitations be tolled by the client’s insanity? These two questions are partially answered in Turner v Irving Finkelstein & Meirowitz, LLP ;2009 NY Slip Op 03158 ;Decided…
When the Damages are Huge, Look for Legal Malpractice to Follow
This story from Law.Com by Zusha Elinson tells of the aftermath of a $ 82 million Sony Patent case, with its reports of witness buying, false testimony and unreliable evidence. From the Legal Malpractice perspective here is the nugget:
"Craig Thorner was the key witness in the Sony legal team’s effort to overturn an $82…
Multi-State Legal Malpractice and the Borrower Statute
California corporation retains New York law firm to process a trademark application, which fails. California plaintiff sues New York defendant for legal malpractice in Federal District Court, SDNY. Case is dismissed on jurisdictional basis. Case is later brought in State Court in New York. Does California or New York statute of limitations apply?
In Kat …
Contingent Fee Retainers, Appellate Work and Legal Malpractice
When may the representation of a client end, what work does an attorney have to do for a contingent fee client, and how do legal malpractice considerations filter in? Those questions are answered, in this context, in Matter of Mill Creek Phase 1 , Supreme Court, Kings County, Gerges, J. Must a law firm perform appellate tasks…
Law Firm Retainers and Legal Malpractice
We’re continuing to discuss the Howard S. Davis article in the New York Law Journal on April 17, 2009. How does the written attorney retainer agreement relate to an attorney malpractice case? Is the attorney responsible for handling an appeal, a wrongful death proceeding in Surrogate’s Court, a supplemental trust? Is a fee earned when…
Trustee’s Standing in Legal Malpractice
A bankruptcy trustee "steps into the shoes of the debtor" and obtains certain benefits from this power. In Kirschner v. Grant Thornton we see that there are limits to that power. As Mark Hamblett writes in today’s NYLJ: "Southern District Judge Gerard E. Lynch ruled Tuesday that the case brought by liquidation trustee…
Ahlborn Legal Malpractice, and Retainer Agreements
In Arkansas Department of Human Services v. Ahlborn, 547 U.S. 268, 126 S. Ct. 1752, it was "held that from a $550,000 negotiated settlement in a case arising from a car accident, the Arkansas Medicaid authority could recover only $35,581.47 (about one-sixth) of the $215,645.30 it had paid for treatment of Heidi Ahlborn’s injuries, because…
Relation-Back and the Statute of Limitations in Legal Malpractice
A recent case 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 which we discussed on April 15. The second principal is relation-back and the statute of limitations.
The statute of limitations in…
Turnabout in Legal Malpractice Defense Motion
One of the more interesting memes in legal malpractice is the inevitable turnabout that is played out by the target attorney. Once the advocate for plaintiff, the target attorney immediately turns around to show the holes in, and deficiencies of plaintiff’s position. The attorney, chameleonlike, turns into plaintiff’s earlier opponent; at least the target attorney…