For some reason, it seems legal malpractice cases are subject to an inordinately high percentage of motions to dismiss, more so than other categories of cases. Here in SHAHRAM DAVID LAVIAN, -v.- IRA DANIEL TOKAYER, ESQ., 08 Civ. 938 (PAC) (GWG);
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK;2009 U.S. Dist.
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.
Continued Representation in Legal Malpractice
The principal of "continued representation" in Legal Malpractice is that the statute of limitations does not start to run upon the making of a mistake, while the attorney continues to represent the client. "The statue of limitations sounding in legal malpractice is tolled until the completion of the attorney’s ongoing representation concerning the matter out of…
Legal Malpractice Case against your Public Defender
The poor deserve an adequate criminal defense as much as anyone else. While everyone gets an attorney when arrested, even if they cannot afford one, publicly funded legal Aid or 18b attorneys don’t always get sufficient funding to handle large caseloads/ Who suffers?
Here is a case from Seattle in which an innocent man sat…
Blame the Judge in Legal Malpractice
Judges handle hundreds of cases a year, many more during a career. what happens when a judge is removed from the bench for criminal acts? Can the cases presided over by this particular judge unravel?
In this Pennsylvania legal malpractice case, the judge recused himself during trial when an attorney accused him of showing…
Attorney Fees in Legal Malpractice Litigation?
May the defendant attorney collect attorney fees for the successful defense of a legal malpractice case? One would immediately think not. The "American Rule" is that each side pays for its own attorneys, and the blackletter rule in NY is that absent an agreement or a statute, attorney fees are not collectible.
Here is a case, Lok…
Try, Try, Try Again in Legal Malpractice
ROBERTO BERAS, Plaintiff-Appellant, -v.- STEPHANIE M. CARVLIN, ROBERT C. GOTTLIEB, MARK STEIN, THE FIRM FRIED, FRANK, HARRIS, SHRIVER, AND JACOBSON, CHARLES A. ROSS, THE FIRM OF BRAFMAN & ROSS, Defendants-Appellees.;No. 07-2514-cv;UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT;2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 19805
is a prime example of pro-se litigation in legal malpractice. It…
When is a Legal Fee not Really a Legal Fee
Collateral Estoppel and Legal Malpractice have an interesting intertwining existence. Put briefly, once an attorney is awarded a legal fee [by a court, an arbitrator, or a judicial hearing officer] a subsequent legal malpractice case fails on the basis that a court has already implicitly determined that there can be no legal malpractice, because no…
Divorce, Legal Malpractice and Proofs
Here is a pdf version of the Oxman v Herman Sloan Robarge & Sullivan, LLP case, which is a not unusual matrimonial legal malpractice case, As in many of these cases, plaintiff-wife believes that her attorney has insufficiently investigated the assets of her husband, to the extent that she has been significantly short-changed in…
Like Russian Dolls, A Case Within A Case, Within…
Legal malpractice is a world within itself. Beyond the obvious small universe of defendants, all attorneys of course, and the unique rules, the serious questions are almost always how the underlying case was lost, and could it have been won. While much litigation today centers on meta data and electronic discovery, most of legal malpractice…
“9 to 5” and Legal Malpractice
Legal Malpractice in Hollywood should come as no surprise. We’ve commented on the widespread omnipresence of legal malpractice litigation, but had no idea we would be quoting Variety on the subject. Here is their report on legal malpractice and the "9 to 5" screen, stage and trust saga as well as the cult classic Harold …