The NYLJ reports a Judiciary Law 487 case today in which the claim survives.  Empire Purveyors, Inc. v. Brief Justice & Kleinman, [subscription necessary] which was written by Justice Solomon in Supreme Court,  New York County, holds that Judiciary Law 487 is applicable in both of its applications.  The first application, deceit in an ongoing legal…

Because legal malpractice is always a "case within a case" it is a two step process.  The very nature of the two step process gives rise to defendant’s ability to brag over winning either of the two legs.  An example is Orick’s statement that they were vindicated, even after it was proven that the attorney violated…

Two huge names in the celebrity Blogosphere, Perez Hilton and Samantha Ronson along with Lindsay Lohan join together with lesser known attorney Martin Garbus to again demonstrate the ubiquitous nature of legal malpractice.  We are betting that most readers will know the facts of this case.  Disputes break out in every sphere, lawyers are called in…

An attorney must carefully and assiduously guard his client’s confidences, secrets and communications with the attorney.  This remains true until the attorney has to defend himself.  Must this defense be to criminal charges, or to ethical charges only?  The answer is set forth in a recently decided case in the First Department.Hélie v McDermott, …

A tip of the blogging hat to Shareholder Oppression Blog which reports this Texas case in which business is looking for investors and plaintiff comes along.  His investment is somewhat complicated, and the company’s attorney suggests some changes. Here is the opinion.  While the attorney was not held in this case, we expect that the…

Typically, legal malpractice follows filing too late; here there may be legal malpractice in filing too early.  This situation is more common than one might imagine, and in the current economic circumstances, may re-occur needlessly.

The Southeast Texas Record reports the facts of a case similar to ones we have seen.  Plaintiff has a dischargable…

Town buys property previously owned by bus company. They plan to remediate the property, and turn it into a park.  Town’s Attorney is Democratic.  Town board is Republican majority, soon to change after election.  Result?  Attorney is potentially a legal malpractice defendant, solely dependent on whether Republicans or Democrats have the majority.

The Story, found…

Continuing in the turnabout tradition of legal malpractice defense, wherein the defendant attorney takes on the coloration of its previous adversary in order to defeat a "case within a case’ is this matter: Lederer de Paris Fifth Ave., Inc. v Jordan & Hamburg, LLP ; 2008 NY Slip Op 09462
Decided on December 2, 2008  …