Judges retire or don’t stand for re-election, and then look for a new job.  That’s expected and no one is surprised when they surface as a partner in biglaw, or in a prestigious local firm.  This story borders on the extreme.Charles Toutant of the New Jersey Law Journal reports:

"Lawyers who engaged a retiring…

Yesterday we examined this case: Whalen v DeGraff, Foy, Conway, Holt-Harris & Mealey ,2008 NY Slip Op 06342 [53 AD3d 912] ,July 17, 2008 ,Appellate Division, Third Department  on the issue of when an expert is necessary.  Today, we look at how a referring attorney, [or a supervising attorney] may become responsible for the…

The short answer to the question of when an expert is necessary in legal malpractice is "most of the time."  Here in this case, Whalen v DeGraff, Foy, Conway, Holt-Harris & Mealey ,2008 NY Slip Op 06342 [53 AD3d 912] ,July 17, 2008 ,Appellate Division, Third Department  we see the slightly longer answer…

We are continuing to discuss the Gotay case, 2008 NY Slip Op 08432. 

Defendants remain in the case on the basis that it was unclear that they intended to, or actually had ended their representation.  CPLR 321 is the manner in which an attorney ends the relationship, absent a court order.  In this long-running medical…

Law.Com reports the Gotay v. Brietbart2008 NY Slip Op 08432
Decided on November 6, 2008
Appellate Division, First Department
Lippman, P.J., case.  This case addresses what may be the last reference to a change in New York law which roiled the waters for several years.  Once, long ago, an action was commenced by service of…

Plaintiffs were aspiring Broadway Musical producers, and contracted for the rights to a Barry Manilow production, Harmony.  Alas, it was not to be.  Producing a play/musical for Broadway takes a lot of money, and it appears from the court decision that this production was "undercapitilized,"

Things went badly, and ended in the producers losing…

Some time ago, the Court of Appeals decided Santulli v Englert, Reilly & McHugh, P.C., 78 N.Y.2d 700, [1992].  The upshot of that decision was that plaintiff could plead both negligence and breach of contract, and each had different statutes of limitation, 3 and 6 years.  This led to a plethora of claims against attorneys…

We’ve been revisiting this theme over the past year. When one thinks legal malpractice, the most common image is that of the personal injury client whose statute of limitations was blown.  However, today we see a significant rise of legal malpractice in the financial field.  Trustees in bankruptcy, receivers and cases coming out of the…