Legal Malpractice

Self-Aggrandizement and Legal Malpractice

By (Andrew Lavoott Bluestone)

Anthony Lin writes today in the NYLJ about the Shelly v. Bodian case, Index No. 602254/05, currently being litigated in Supreme Court, New York County, and discusses a recent decision of Justice Emily Jane Goodman.  Justice Goodman has a fair number of legal malpractice cases on her docket. 

Lin's article highlights a well known meme in legal professional circles;  lateral movement between biglaw firms.  One publication, NY Lawyer is highly sensitive to movement of attorneys between large law firms.  "NY Lawyers on the Move" or "The Problem of Poached Lawyers" is a staple of this particular magazine.

Is Shelly "A legal malpractice suit against the current New York managing partner of Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo claiming he was too preoccupied with his lateral movement among firms to timely file a lawsuit " as Lin writes?  Perhaps.
 

The case highlights some interesting principals of legal malpractice which warrant examination.  We'll take a look at the motion to dismiss in this case, which was decided last year.

Is it legal malpractice to allow amendment of an answer which then leads to dismissal of a cause of action because the original answer failed to allege statute of limitations and the amended answer successfully alleged statute of limitations?  Justice Goodman held that it was not legal malpractice, because she, and the majority of courts permit amendment of answers absent prejudice, which she describes as "investment of time/expense in engaging in substantial discovery, motion practice or trial preparation."  If there is no investment, there is no prejudice, and a reasonable [if hypothetical] court would have allowed amendment.  Ergo, no malpractice.

Tomorrow:  more on these two decisions.

Full post as published by New York Attorney Malpractice Blog on September 11, 2008 (boomark / email).