Legal malpractice stands apart from all other professional negligence. Its rules are fundamentally different, more rigorous and more difficult than for other professional negligence. In medical malpractice the patient/plaintiff need only show a departure from accepted community standards of medical practice which was a proximate cause of injury or damage. Geffner v. North Shore Univ. Hosp., 57 AD3d 839 (2d Dept. 2008)
In accountant malpractice the client/plaintiff need plead and prove only that the accountant departed from recognized and accepted professional standards of practice for accountants, and that this departure caused injury. Friedman v. Anderson, 23 AD3d 163 (1st Dept. 2005).
