The Madison County Record is a font of legal information. Today it reports on the legal malpractice action brought by a widow of an asbestos litigation plaintiff. His case was settled, she says, for a predetermined amount. Details.. “Judy Buckles once said, “Madison County is the best when it comes to representing asbestos victims
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.
Mid-Atlantic Legal Malpractice
The article says that this type of case is rare in England, but there was no trouble linking the English law firm v. law firm matter up with a SDNY legal malpractice case involving the British attorney in an estate matter in NY. Lefkowitz v. Bergman is proceeding in SDNY while the British component of…
Being Nice and Legal Malpractice
Here is a blog blip from My shingle which riffs on the idea of the relationship between being nice and being sued. It has implications for legal malpractice too; As I have seen over and over, being nice may well disarm the intention to due. Details.
California Article on Legal Malpractice v. Vacating Settlements
Here is a clearly worded article on the difference between vacating settlements made because of poor legal advice and the right to bring an legal malpractice action from California. Article.
Supreme Court Invitation to a Legal Malpractice Suit ??
Coal company lawyers send a tax proceeding to the wrong state office. Coal company in West Virginia loses its objection to the tax. Supreme Court of West Virginia Judge Spike Maynard [love the name] dissents from the majority and would hold that the objection should have been heard. He says that this decision will “subject”…
Assignment of Legal Malpractice Case in Washington State
As often happens, plaintiff and defendant settle a case, and as part of the settlement, defendant assigns its legal malpractice rights against its own lawyer to plaintiff. Here, in this Washington State case it did not work. Details.
Lex Blog Recognition in Legal Malpractice
Thanks to Lex Blog for its recognition. We are writing about and litigating in legal malpractice in New York. Call for information.
Fired for giving Legal Malpractice Advice?
Robert Shapiro’s LA secretary was fired, and now may sue for discrimination. There is a lot going on here, but one paragraph cought my interest. “Another employee at the firm, Sara Caplan, told Shapiro that James could have jeopardized one of his cases by giving incorrect information to a court clerk. Caplan also said she…
Epstein Becker Green Legal Malpractice full Decision
Here is the full decision on the Epstein Becker Green legal malpractice, fiduciary duty case. Decision