One might assume that pending legal matters at the time of a law partnership’s dissolution are firm assets or property. Not so, held the New York Court of Appeals in a ruling that practically guarantees prolonged litigation over the correct valuation and allocation of contingency fee cases when law partnerships dissolve. Read about one recent example in this week’s New York Business Divorce.
An LLC Masquerading as a Partnership
Is it a partnership? Is it an LLC? Can it be both? In this week’s New York Business Divorce, read about a novel application of the rules of law governing partnerships and LLCs to the same business entity simultaneously to achieve a solution that would not been possible if strictly applying the laws of one or the other.
Lessons on the Art of Drafting Capital Call Provisions
The oft litigated art of the capital call takes center stage once again in this week’s post, featuring two appellate rulings handed down last week, one sustaining and one invalidating a capital call.
Continue Reading Lessons on the Art of Drafting Capital Call Provisions
Tax Partner, Not True Partner: The Limits of K-1s in Business Divorce Litigation
A recent Second Department decision reminds business divorce litigants that while K-1s may be powerful evidence of an economic interest, they cannot substitute for compliance with a partnership agreement’s formal admission requirements.
Continue Reading Tax Partner, Not True Partner: The Limits of K-1s in Business Divorce Litigation
Mining for a Joint Venture: A Crypto “Partnership” That Never Got Off the Blocks
Every so often a case comes along that reads less like a business dispute and more like a cautionary tale about the perils arising out of unwritten deals among friends. As we’ve written about before, these cases can be brutal to defend, particularly where the pleadings just robust enough to survive a motion to
Winter Case Notes: A Partnership Masquerading as an LLC, and Other Recent Decisions of Interest
This week NYBD presents its annual Winter Case Notes summarizing several recent decisions of interest.
Ownership Without Partnership: A Lesson from the Second Department on the Plight of the Assignee
While the distinction between a partner and an economic interest holder is conceptually sound, a recent decision from the Second Department shows how an assignee of an economic interest can be left not only out of the boardroom, but also out in the cold financially.
The Pick-Your-Partner Principle
General partnerships are supposed to be the easiest of all business organizations for co-owners to separate. Not in the case featured on this week’s New York Business Divorce, where it took almost ten years for the majority partners of a New York general partnership to secure a court ruling that a formal written notice of withdrawal by one of the partners dissolved the business by operation of law.
But, IS Loss Sharing an “Indispensable Element” of Partnership? Not If You Contract Around It.
Happy 2026 to all!
A new year offers a new opportunity to shed the old and embrace the new. So, it is fitting that we kick off another year on New York Business Divorce with a case that involves a little old and a little new.
First, the old: In the world of partnerships
Swing of the Pendulum: A Tale of Two “For Cause” Removals
Strict compliance with contractual conditions precedent, yea or nay? In New York, it depends.
Now, the general rule is that strict compliance with contractual conditions precedent is required. The New York Court of Appeals has previously held: “Express conditions must be literally performed, substantial performance will not suffice” (MHR Capital Partners LP v Presstek,