Florham Park, New Jersey, partners Max Billek and Mike Chipko achieved summary judgment in an Appellate Division affirmation in a legal malpractice action against Wilson Elser’s client trust & estate attorneys, who prepared an estate plan for plaintiff’s parents, assigning plaintiff, his brother and brother-in-law as co-trustees. After both parents were deceased, allegations arose that plaintiff had been taking improper gifts from the trusts, and the attorneys attempted to negotiate a resolution on behalf of the co-trustees, ultimately referring its clients to other counsel for litigation. After extensive litigation in chancery court, plaintiff ultimately reached a favorable settlement with the co-trustees and carved out the right to file a malpractice action against the attorneys to recover fees and costs incurred in the chancery action alleging conflict of interest and breach of fiduciary duty. Max and Mike successfully argued in the Appellate Division that there is no bar to applying the “Entire Controversy” doctrine to a legal malpractice action since plaintiff already had taken an adverse position to the attorneys in the underlying action. Additionally, the court affirmed that plaintiff was aware of the potential claim during the pendency of the underlying action and failed to amend his 4:5-1 Certification, which was inexcusable and prejudicial as it appeared to be a deliberate strategy to obtain depositions and discovery to use in a successive action.