Judiciary Law §487 is a statute unique in regulation of the legal professional. Other professions are subject to their own disciplinary rules, other professions are subject to negligence claims, but none are subject to a 748-year-old treble damage statute which has been incorporated into the common law.

Attorneys are held to a higher standard than other professions and Judiciary Law §487 has existed in some form since medieval times. Initially enacted as the First Statute of Westminster in 1275, it was English law in colonial New York. In 1787 the New York Legislature adopted a strikingly similar law.