Also known as: firm name · firm's name · firms' names · law firm name · partnership name
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A name under which a partnership conducts its business. The name permits a partner to bind the partnership by acts apparently carrying on its ordinary business. It also authorizes transfer of property held in that name and shields a dissociated partner from liability when remaining partners continue using the name.
Flagship Logistics needed new trucks for its delivery routes. Partner Fernando Farrell signed a three-year lease in the firm name without telling the other partners. The lessor had no notice of any limits on Farrell's authority. The partnership is bound by the lease because the transaction occurred in the ordinary course of the firm's business.
Frostline Textiles owned a warehouse titled in the partnership name. Partner Felix Franco executed a deed transferring the warehouse to a buyer. The deed was signed solely in the firm name. Title passed to the buyer because partnership property held in the partnership name may be transferred by an instrument signed by a partner in that name.
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Fabian Flynn left Falcon Dynamics after a dispute. The remaining partners kept using the original firm name on new contracts. A supplier later sued Flynn personally for one of those contracts. Flynn is not liable because continued use of the firm name alone does not impose liability on a dissociated partner.
A partner's signature in the firm name binds the partnership when the act appears to carry on the partnership's ordinary business and the third party lacks notice of any lack of authority.
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Partnership property held in the firm name may be transferred by an instrument signed by any partner in the partnership name.
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Continued use of the firm name by the remaining partners does not by itself make a dissociated partner liable for later obligations of the continuing business.
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