Partnership Case Law

PARTNERSHIP CASELAW | | This section of the website provides access to all cases summarised in the Partnership Law Updates which have been issued since January 2000 to date. Therefore this Archive operates as a guide to some of the interesting partnership cases decided in common law jurisdictions in recent years. Special thanks are due to Professor Dick Webb (Emeritus Professor of Law in the University of Auckland) for alerting me to many developments contained in this section and to Dr Keith Fletcher of the University of Queensland. . PARTNERSHIP LAW CASES Janurary 2000_______________________Partnership by Holding outPlaintiffs instructed first-named defendant as their solicitor - Plaintiffs’ funds dissipated by the first-named defendant - First-named defendant’s wife also worked as a solicitor in the practice - Plaintiffs instructed the defendant as a result of their friendship with his wife - Husband and wife conducted themselves as partners in everything they did socially - Whether wife was a partner in the practice - Whether wife was liable as a partner by holding outPalter v Zeller and Lieberman (1997) 30 OR (3d) 796. In this case, the Court of Justice of Ontario considered both the allegation of a partnership between the two defendants, and the allegation that the second-named defendant had held herself out to be a partner with the first-named defendant. The first-named defendant, Zeller, had set up in practice as a lawyer and after his marriage to the second-named defendant, Lieberman, she joined him in practice. This fact was advertised by an announcement which was published by Zeller to the effect that Lieberman had “joined me in the practice of law”. There was no indication given in the firm’s stationery or business cards that they were partners in this practice. The plaintiffs had been friendly with Lieberman before she met Zeller and arising out of this friendship they instructed Zeller on a number of occasions. After Lieberman joined the