Here is the decision in the Arkin legal malpractice case reported last week. Case Decision.
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.
Federal Question and Legal Malpractice
Removal from State Court to Federal District Court depends on some aspect of subject matter jurisdiction. It may be diversity and it may be “federal question.” Often, defendants argue that removal is permitted because deciding the state court action would “require a substantial evaluation of applicable federal law.” Here is a case, reported by Cassandra…
West VA Legal Malpractice and lis pendens
West Virginia couple hires an attorney to defend them in a suit. A lis pendens was filed against them, and they say, never removed after success in the suit. They were unable to change their morgage loan arrangements and lost $$$. Details/
Jay Goldberg’s Article on Fee Forfeiture
Here is an excelent article on Fee Forfeiture after misconduct. The general rule is that an attorney who is terminated for cause is due no compensation, and may be required to disgorge. This article gives the underlying basis. The article.
This has nothing to do with Legal Malpractice
This has nothing to do with legal malpractice, but it cought my eye. Intra-family conflict at its apogee. Pig of the year!
Weil Gotshal, Fendi, Prada, Michael Bolton and Legal Malpractice Conflicts
In a case which keeps getting more and more celebrity names assoicated with it, the Weil Gotshal legal malpractice case goes on. Now, plaintiff’s attorney will be permitted to tell the jury about prior conflict legal malpractice litigation over Michael Bolton. We’ve reported on this case several times.
Alston & Bird, Drafting Error and Legal Malpractice
Alston & Bird, which tells us it “is a great law firm because it is always about the business of becoming a better law firm” resides in Atlanta, GA. Today, it defends a legal malpractice lawsuit arising from a claimed “drafting error” which cost venture capitalists $5.3 million to fix, with total damages of…
Mexican Affiliates and Legal Malpractice
Mexican affiliate gets US law firm in legal malpractice trouble over airplane lease. Winstead Sechrest & Minick PC has been sued over its role in the lease of two airplanes to a Mexican airline. Details.
Gas Explosion, Legal Malpractice and the CA Statute of Limitations
MO applies CA statute of limitations to a lawsuit arising from a gas explosion. Here are the details from the Show Me Blog.
Prudential and Legal Malpractice
Here is a slightly breathy story from TV news about a legal malpractice case coming after a Prudential discrimination law suit. The legal malpractice appears to be a result of the attorney’s decision to sign a sealing agreement. Now the Appellate Division has permitted unsealing. Hear the details.