Canada: Message from FWTA on COVID-19 Preparedness

With all of the uncertainty surrounding Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), we at Filion Wakely Thorup Angeletti LLP are committed to protecting and promoting the health and safety of our lawyers, staff, clients and visitors to our offices. We are closely monitoring the situation and following the advice of public health authorities to establish best practices, minimize the risk of exposure and provide uninterrupted service to our clients and the community. At this time, all three of our offices remain open.

In light of recent developments, we have put the following measures into place to promote a safe and healthy workplace, and maintain business continuity for our clients:

• We have distributed resources and information bulletins throughout the firm about health and safety precautions during a pandemic and have updated all of our lawyers and staff on the firm’s response to the developing situation.
• We have encouraged all lawyers, staff and visitors to the firm to practice proper hand hygiene, including frequent hand washing. As always, hand sanitizer is available in various commonly-used areas throughout all three of our offices.
• We have asked all lawyers and staff to self-monitor for COVID-19 symptoms, and have encouraged all firm members to stay home when they are ill.
• We have cancelled all non-essential business travel.
• We are monitoring personal travel to identify risk, and have advised all lawyers and staff to follow public health guidelines and directives regarding when to self-isolate and self-monitor.
• We are evaluating all meetings and in-firm seminars on a case-by-case basis, and will be cancelling or moving these events to teleconference or web-based platforms as appropriate. Any such changes will be communicated to those affected.
• We have contingency plans and infrastructure in place to ensure that our lawyers are available to our clients even if they do not have access to physical office locations.

We will continue to update our website with information that employers need to know about COVID-19. You can find our most recent updates here and here.

We will continue to monitor and evaluate the situation as it unfolds, and will take all necessary precautions to protect and promote the health and safety of our firm members, clients, contacts and the communities in which we operate.

This is a difficult and uncertain period for everyone, but we will work together and use all of our resources to ensure that the impact to our lawyers, staff, clients and friends are minimized. Should it become necessary to close any of our offices, we are committed to providing the level of service and responsiveness you have come to expect for your legal and business needs.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding our response to this outbreak, how this will impact our service and your business, or how you can form pandemic and business continuity plans, please reach out to me or your regular lawyer at the firm.

Best regards,

Carl Peterson
Managing Partner
Filion Wakely Thorup Angeletti LLP

Filion Wakely Thorup Angeletti attorneys are available to assist you with these and other workplace issues. For more information, visit https://www.filion.on.ca/.