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.

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Firm/Organization: Andrew Lavoott Bluestone, Morrison & Foerster LLP
Blogs: MOFO Jumpstarter, New York Attorney Malpractice Blog

Latest Articles

Not every attorney problem can be shoehorned into a Judiciary Law § 487 format.  US Suite LLC v Baratta, Baratta & Aidala LLP 2019 NY Slip Op 02837  Decided on April 16, 2019  Appellate Division, First Department is an example of a partially successful plaintiff’s case which fails on JL § 487. “Plaintiffs’ complaint here, as supplemented, sufficiently states a cause of action that defendants aided and abetted another person’s removal of funds belonging to plaintiffs, hid the funds…
Hudson Yards LLC v Segal  2019 NY Slip Op 30996(U)  April 5, 2019  Supreme Court, New York County Docket Number: 158606/2014 Judge: Andrea Masley describes the unraveling of the initial Hudson Yards real estate deal and the loss of $ 50M.  Even in NY these are big real estate numbers.  Legal Malpractice?  Supreme Court says it’s all too speculative. “Hudson Yards LLC, an entity in which Singer served as managing member, purchased real estate in December 2005 and March 2006…
Cascardo v Dratel  2019 NY Slip Op 02957 Decided on April 18, 2019 Appellate Division, First Department is a combination legal malpractice, excessive billing, fraud breach of fiduciary duty case which had several claims weeded out for this plaintiff. “Plaintiff’s fraud claim should have been dismissed because the complaint did not sufficiently plead justifiable reliance upon defendant’s claim that it needed an additional $10,000 to continue its work on her lawsuit. In fact, the complaint specifically asserts…
This lovely 1500 year old phrase starts the case of Long Island Real Props., Ltd. v US Bank N.A.  2019 NY Slip Op 30954(U)  April 2, 2019  Supreme Court, Suffolk County  Docket Number: 621122/2017.   Judge James Hudson quotes the medieval writer Tribonian to the effect that “A great number of unskilled practitioners ruins a Court. (2 Inst. 219)  He then goes on to catalog the errors in a Long Island real estate law suit, weaving in a discussion…
Citing a “strong public policy to dispose of cases on their merits” the Appellate Division First Department reversed in Cornwall Warehousing, Inc. v Lerner  2019 NY Slip Op 02825 Decided on April 16, 2019. “Plaintiffs demonstrated a reasonable excuse for their default (CPLR 5015[a][1]), based on law office failure, as detailed in the affirmation of their former counsel who miscalendared the motion (CPLR 2005; People’s United Bank v Latini Tuxedo Mgt., LLC, 95 AD3d 1285…
Professionals take on work, and more specifically responsibilities.  Some come from the general tort requirement to act reasonably towards the public, some arise from contract.  Lam v 933 60th St. Realty Inc.    2019 NY Slip Op 30707(U) March 20, 2019 Supreme Court, Kings County Docket Number: 514453/2018 Judge: Debra Silber is an example of how a carefully drafted retainer agreement/contract can limit potential liability. “This is an action for property damage allegedly caused to plaintiffs’ properties as a result of…
A vintage cartoon (from the New Yorker?) has a bunch of New York people at a cocktail party, and the balloon for each of them simply says “Real Estate.” NY Prime Holding LLC v Nationstar Mtge., LLC  2019 NY Slip Op 30857(U)  March 27, 2019  Supreme Court, New York County  Docket Number: 157879/2018 Judge: John J. Kelley  is the story of a Harlem townhouse passed around in a game of musical real estate parcels.  A foreclosure action is…
JL§ 487, possibly the oldest part of the anglo-american common law, but for the Magna Carta, regularly comes up in legal malpractice settings.  Here, in Sammy v Haupel 2019 NY Slip Op 02372 Decided on March 27, 2019 the Appellate Division, Second Department affirms the dismissal of a claim against Wilson Elser and its top attorneys. “The events underlying this action relate to the plaintiff’s purchase of real property in 2007. According to the plaintiff,…
Big cases and little cases alike are subject to the unique legal malpractice “strategic choice” doctrine as well as a speculation analysis.  Bison Capital Corporation v. Hunton & Williams, Supreme Court, New York County, Scarpulla, J. is today’s example.  “Bison and its president, Edwin E. Wells, Jr. (“Wells”) entered into a contract with nonparty ATP Oil and Gas Corporation (“ATP”) wherein Bison agreed to help secure a financing source for that company, which was facing…
Cortland Apts., LLC v Simbari Design Architecture, PLLC  2019 NY Slip Op 50331(U) Decided on March 19, 2019 Supreme Court, Cortland County Guy, J. is a companion case to Universe Ave. LLC v. Simbari Design Architecture PLLC and raises an interesting question:  When a professional opines that work conforms to a statute is it negligence when the governmental authority charged with enforcing the statute offers a novel interpretation that upsets the prior understanding and determines that the…