Rita, Guy and Jess operate a small accountancy firm in Burwood, Melbourne. Rita is an experienced Chartered Accountant with 20 years' experience. Guy is a recent graduate and an expert in marketing and client management. In addition to being an accountant, Jess is also a lawyer, specialising in tax law. When they started the business in early 2021, Guy and Jess invested $100,000 each and Rita agreed to bring her wealth of experience to the business. They leased a business place and hired a receptionist to manage the front office. It was decided that Rita would oversee the business's day-to-day operations, while Jess would manage wealthy clients. Guy would be in charge of marketing, finance and client relationships. The partnership agreement stated that one of the business's objectives was to provide accounting and tax advice and services to clients. While advising Keith, a wealthy client, Jess instructed him to use a tax avoidance scheme to save a lot of money. Keith followed the advice and adopted the plan. The Australian Tax Office fined Keith $200,000, claiming that Keith's tax avoidance scheme was illegal. Keith paid the fine and demanded the $200,000 from Rita and Guy, as Jess was stuck overseas due to border closures.

Are Rita, Guy and Jess partners of a business? Why/Why not? Further, advise Rita and Guy whether they are responsible for the wrongful advice given by Jess?Use relevant cases and therelevant sections of the Partnerships Act 1958(Vic)to support your answer.

(Please use Issues, Rules, Apply, Conclusion form.)