ABSTRACT
This chapter takes people through the concept of partnerships as a type of business structure, the forms that partnerships can take and the importance of the partnership agreement. It also considers how partnerships can end. Most end amicably, but a partnership may also end if a court decrees that is should be dissolved. The continued relevance of partnership law should not be underestimated, however, since it remains the essential form of organisation within the sphere of such professional activities as the law, accountancy and medicine. In November 2003, the Law Commission and the Scottish Law Commission produced a joint proposal for the major alteration of partnership law under which partnerships would be extended the privilege of full legal personality. A firm of solicitors had purported to enter into contracts of service with their clerical staff and, subsequently, all of the staff had entered into partnership agreement, under which profits and losses were to be divided on terms to be agreed.
