The Appellate Division sided with an intellectual property firm on the enforceability of an unsigned partnership agreement following the departure of one of its partners, but remanded the trial court’s order for the attorney to pay more than $800,000 in costs and fees.

Andrew Zidel joined Lerner David in 2001 as a patent agent and rose to become an equity partner by 2012. In the firm’s 55-year history, it never had a comprehensive written partnership agreement. That changed in 2018 when the firm drafted its first agreement, addressing the issue of withdrawing and retiring partners. However, Zidel took issue with the document and never signed it, according to the opinion.