Legal malpractice is a well-settled off-shoot of its older brother, medical malpractice. Both concern ramifications of negligence in professional services. As professional services go, the medical and legal professions are amongst the world’s oldest, cabaret jokes notwithstanding. Current statutes concerned with behavior of attorneys are traceable back to 1275 and the Statute of Westminster. Judiciary Law §487 has survived through almost 800 years with little change. Amalfitano v. Rosenberg, 12 NY3d 8 (2009).
Legal malpractice is the failure “to exercise the ordinary reasonable skill and knowledge commonly possessed by a member of the legal profession,” where the attorney’s breach of this duty proximately caused the plaintiff actual and ascertainable damages. Rudolf v. Shayne, Dachs, Stanisci, Corker & Sauer, 8 NY3d 438 (2007); Bauza v. Livington, 40 AD3d 791 (2d Dept. 2007); Magnacoustics Inc. v. Ostrolenk, Faber, Gerb & Soffen, 303 AD2d 561, 562 (2d Dept. 2003).
