Late last year, Justice Larry D. Martin of the King's County Commercial Division issued a decision that examines some basic provisions of partnership law and fiduciary duty. The decision is somewhat unique in that it determined that a group of lawyers who held themselves out as partners since 1995 and filed as a professional limited liability partnership with New York state in 1995 were not partners and did not owe fiduciary duties to one another upon their departure from the firm.

The motion court opinion is worth reviewing as another reminder that the use of the name "partnership" or even the filing of an entity as a partnership with New York state is not controlling concerning whether the parties are truly partners for purposes of the law.