Two lawyers practiced as partners from 1978 to 1998 without a partnership agreement. They entered into an agreement in 1998 that became the subject of litigation after one had died. His estate claimed that the surviving partner owed a significant sum (over $600,000) to the estate.

The New Jersey Appellate Court reversed an order granting summary judgment to the estate except for an equitable fraud claim. The court also reversed the dismissal of a potion of the survivimg partner’s counterclaim. The trial court on remand must detrmine whether the surviving partner has presented a prima facie case that the decased partner breached the partnership agreement based on documentary, rather than paol, evidence. The court held that RPC 1.17 did not require the deceased partner to give written notice of his retirement; rather, the rule requires written notice of the sale of a law practice. (Mike Frisch)