Judiciary Law 487 is a statute which defines a misdemeanor and creates a private cause of action, with treble damages,
 

§487. Misconduct by attorneys.

An attorney or counselor who:

1. Is guilty of any deceit or collusion, or consents to any
deceit or collusion, with intent to deceive the court or any party; or,…

Sometimes things go from bad to worse, and then decend even further in legal malpractice litigation.  Here is an example.  Plaintiff was injured, went to attorney 1 who settled the case without asking plaintiff, then went to attorney 2, then sued attorney 1 and 2.

"Sturgill, 46, was fishing with a co-worker from the Maryland…

Perez Hilton, DJ Samantha and Legal Malpractice.  If any further evidence on the ubiquitous nature of legal malpractice was needed, this story seals the issue.  In the high stakes celebrity gossip blogworld, the DJ sued the Blogger Perez and lost.  The DJ promptly was sued by her attorney Martin Garbus and sued him for legal malpractice.  Here…

Attorneys deal with issues that have big numbers attached to them.  Here is a story about an Indiana law firm that got into a big problem. The article does not say how the negotiation went bad, but the end result was that the law firm assigned its bad faith claim against its own insurer to…

One of the more interesting aspects of legal malpractice is its utter ubiquity.  Look at any institution and lurking behind it may be a case of legal malpractice.  It’s not surprising, as attorneys are everywhere involved in transactional or litigative work.  A favorite New Yorker cartoon shows a 5 year old whose ice cream cone…

Plaintiff obtains a $ 1.2 million dollar verdict and pursues defendant to Florida, trying to collect the judgment.  Defendant dies, and plaintiff’s attorneys retain Florida counsel to go after the estate.  Here in Whalen v DeGraff, Foy, Conway, Holt-Harris & Mealey ,2008 NY Slip Op 06342 [53 AD3d 912] ,July 17, 2008 ,Appellate Division…

In New York one must show "actual innocence" in a legal malpractice case arising from criminal defense by the target attorney. This standard is very difficult to demonstrate, and generally requires either an acquittal or reversal.  Here is a slightly different take from Connecticut, via the Legal Profession Blog.

"The lawyer had been retained to defend…

Plaintiff unsuccessfully defended a CPLR 3211 motion brought by attorney group number 1 in a legal malpractice case.  Plaintiff was represented by group 1 and then mid-stream terminated them and moved to attorney group 2, who successfully settled the case.  In KWANGJIN SONG, PLAINTIFF-APPELLANT, v WOODS OVIATT GILMAN LLP AND ROBERT S. ATTARDO, DEFENDANTS-RESPONDENTS.  2008 NY…