Appeal from an order of the Supreme Court, Monroe County (Raymond E. Cornelius, J.), entered March 4, 2004. The order granted the cross motion of defendants seeking summary judgment dismissing the amended complaint.
It is hereby ordered that the order so appealed from be and the same hereby is unanimously affirmed without costs.
Memorandum: Supreme Court properly granted defendants’ cross motion for summary judgment dismissing the amended
Plaintiffs further contend both with respect to the alleged legal malpractice and the alleged breach of fiduciary duty that, even assuming, arguendo, that defendants did not in fact represent decedent in 1997, we should nevertheless conclude that defendants, as attorneys for the trustee, were hable to decedent for both malpractice and breach of fiduciary duty. We reject that contention. “[A]bsent fraud, collusion, malicious acts, or other special circumstances, an attorney is not liable to third parties, not in privity, for harm caused by professional negligence” (Rovello v Klein, 304 AD2d 638, 638 [2003], lv denied 100 NY2d 509 [2003]). While an attorney for a trustee will be liable for breach of a fiduciary duty to third-party beneficiaries of the trust if the attorney places his or her self-interest above that of the trustee (see Matter of People [Bond & Mtge. Guar. Co.], 303
