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www.canadianlawyermag.com 21 Allen McDonald Swartz LLP Toronto amsbizlaw.com It has been challenging these past few months for many of the corporate clients with which Allen McDonald Swartz deals, says managing partner Henry Bertossi, as firms paused to see what "the world would look like" as COVID-19 took hold. The M&A business slowed down, he says, and much of the work that the firm did do revolved around looking for "contractual outs, renegotiations and things like force majeure clauses." He also found clients were feeling "more pressed in terms of governance issues — bumping up against stakeholders and balancing the need to keep the lights on and keep their workforce engaged." But five months into the shutdown of many non-essential business and govern- ment services, Bertossi is starting to see a lot of the transactional work come back — and there is definitely "more vibrancy in the marketplace," he says. Allen McDonald Swartz provides strategic counsel and business law advice to Canadian and international clients. The firm is known for closely collaborating with its clients to develop practical legal solutions that meet its clients' objectives. The firm's lawyers — Bertossi, Jennifer Allen, Brad Elberg, Fraser McDonald and Jillian Swartz — are all Bay Street veterans. They have experience across a diverse range of industries, including agri- business, alternative energy, automotive, consumer products, event planning and hospitality, manufacturing, professional services, media, sports and entertainment, technology, mining and natural resources and private equity. Clients include entrepreneurs, high-net- worth individuals, family-owned businesses, private and public companies, multi-national enterprises, law firms, independent commit- tees, charities and not-for-profit organizations. The lawyers at AMS advise clients on mergers and acquisitions, reorganizations, privacy and anti-spam issues, financings, securities compliance and regulatory work, capital markets transactions, governance and business-critical commercial arrangements. Among notable deals on which the firm has worked on, Bertossi says AMS repre- sented 2Keys in its sale to Interac. The transaction included the purchase and sale arrangements involving many vendors. 2Keys designs, develops and operates digital identity and cybersecurity platforms and provides secure authentication and access solutions to governments, financial institu- tions and commercial clients. One part of this deal that is particularly relevant in the days of COVID-19, Bertossi Top Corporate Boutiques Listed alphabetically