Plaintiff had a parcel of land which the state wanted in NJ. As is the custom, the state offers too little, and plaintiff has to scramble to prove the added value. Plaintiff hired law firm 1 on a contingent basis, and the did succeed in raising value; but not enough for plaintiff. He then hired
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.
Fake Court Stamps, Legal Malpractice and a Civil Court Judge
Everyone, except for the parties to this case are famous. Plaintiff’s decedent was supposed to have a case filed. The law firm did not, and then broke up. One partner became a Civil Court Judge. Plaintiff’s attorney is exceedingly well known as a Brooklyn power center – several years ago he was involved in a…
New Tack in Legal Fees Litigation
Today’s NYLJ reports that “A New York court has allowed Chadbourne & Parke to proceed with a fraud claim against the business manager of a former client who promised his boss’ legal bill would be paid out of proceeds from the sales of an Upper East Side townhouse and a Princeton estate.
Most legal fee…
Wage & Hour Claims in CA intersect with Legal Malpractice
Ever litigate a wage & hour claim. We haven’t [and were not aware of the term, either], but as always, if there is litigation, there can be errors. Here is a scholarly analysis frome Wagelaw.com of that area of the law and legal malpractice. The article.
Federal Legal Malpractice Cases from 8/30/06 to 10/26/06
1. Russell v. Legal Aid Soc’y, 05-3876-cv , UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT , 2006 U.S. App. LEXIS 24794, September 29, 2006, Legal Malpractice case, previously dismissed in Fed Ct. was brought in State Court, with State causes of action only. Matter required remand. No real discussion of legal malpractice.…
Legal Malpractice Cases from 8/30/06 – 10/26/06
1.Whelan v. Longo, COURT OF APPEALS OF NEW YORK , 2006 NY Slip Op 6375. Plaintiff did not list legal malpractice cause of action in schedules, may not sue.
2. Bishop v. Maurer, 7693, 7694 , SUPREME COURT OF NEW YORK, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT , 2006 NY Slip Op 7619; Estate…
Fertile Area for Legal Malpractice
Here is an article from Outside Counsel at the NYLJ, by Ronald D. Bratt,a law professor and the principal law clerk to Kings Supreme Justice Arthur M. Schack. It discusses the Ct.App. case in which the complaint was dismissed for failure to prosecute. This was not your typical case, and is food for thought. The…
Question of Fact on Continuous Representation in Legal Malpractice
Here is a case from California, reported by Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP: “Lawyer’s Failure to Advise of Non-Representation Created Issue of Fact Regarding Continued Representation
Gabriela Gonzalez vs. Emelikei Kalu, 140 Cal. App. 4th 21, 43 Cal. Rptr. 3rd 866 (June 2006)
The defendant attorney agreed to handle plaintiff’s sexual harassment claim against her employer.…
Estate Legal Malpractice Case Dismissed in NY
From the NYLJ: “A Manhattan appellate court has dismissed a legal malpractice suit on behalf of an elderly man who claimed his lawyers misled him into signing away control of his estate, but a dissenting judge said the majority’s decision “risks undermining the confidence of the public in the profession.”
Jack E. Maurer, who died…
The End of the Attorney-Client Relationship
It is the general rule in the US that a client may end the attorney-client relationship for any reason, good or bad. After the client ends the relationship, it is for a court to determine whether the termination was for cause or without cause.
Continue Reading The End of the Attorney-Client Relationship