The New Jersey Supreme Court is set to decide whether lawyers in a limited liability partnership lose their protection from being sued individually if their firm fails to maintain professional liability insurance.

The justices on March 30 granted a motion for leave to appeal in Mortgage Grader v. Ward & Olivo, a legal malpractice action against a patent firm that has since split up.

The trial judge held that the failure of a dissolving LLP to purchase a tail insurance policy caused it to revert to a general partnership, thereby exposing one partner to vicarious liability for the other's alleged malpractice.