The matter of Chen v. Mt. Sinai was handled by attorney Steven F. Goldman, and settled just after depositions for $ 2.4 million. Mt. Sinai was represented by Martin Clearwater & Bell, a premiere NY med-mal defense firm. One would think that was good news for Mr. Goldman. However, he ends up, after a Second Circuit
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.
Death in Iraq, Blackwater and Legal Malpractice
Law.Com reports [as does the BLT Blog] that a legal malpractice case by Blackwater Security Consulting has been dismissed, now for the second time against Wiley Rein. The legal malpractice case arises from the horrible death of Blackwater employees in Falugia, Iraq.
The fact of deaths in Iraq ending in US litigation brings to mind a…
Legal Malpractice and the Real Estate Downturn
A recurring theme of these entries is the ubiquitous nature of legal malpractice. All roads, it seems, require attorneys to mix a metaphor. Downturns in the real estate marketplace are no exception. Here is a story from Law.Com about a legal malpractice case against Quinn Emanuell, a biglaw litigation firm. This one is from California:…
Asbestos, Settlements and Legal Malpractice
Asbestos settlements have changed the landscape of tort law, and especially mass tort law. Back in the mid ’90s asbestos cases started to cascade and overwhelm the system. The defense bar’s response was to try to streamline the process. While this may seem counter intuitive, the intersection between defense costs and settlement costs, especially when…
Bankruptcy and Legal Malpractice
The question of when a legal malpractice claim belongs to the debtor and when it belongs to the debtor’s estate is of strong significance. If the former, plaintiff may hire his own attorney and proceed; if the latter, then the trustee in bankruptcy or debtor’s estate holds the reins. Here, from Bankruptcy Law Network…
Happy New Years to All
Thank you for reading our commentary this year. We wish a wonderful holiday season to all. We’ll be returning on January 2, 2009.
Closely Held Corporations, Retainers and Legal Malpractice
A sole shareholder of a closely held corporation hires an attorney. The retainer agreement does not always reflect that the attorney is representing both the individual and the corporation, and at the begining it probably means little. After a progression into a legal malpractice case it may well take on epic porportions. Here, in this…
Are Attorney Fees Recoverable in Legal Malpractice
The answer to this question is a qualified yes. Attorney fees, which are unearned by virtue of the malpractice, or other fees which are spent to rectify the situation may be collected. Here is a case from the Third Deparment on the issue. LEACH Appellant, v.BAILLY et al., Respondents.
"Finally, turning to plaintiff’s arguments…
Merry Christmas
We want to take this occasion to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Supervision of Partners and Legal Malpractice
This holiday season has been one long story about bad economic news, swindles, bad investments, and hedge funds. One meme of this blog has been that legal malpractice litigation is ubiquitous, and intertwined with all aspects of our world. This is simply a reflection of the integration of law and lawyers in all aspects of…