Managing And Drafting Contracts In The COVID-19 Era

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to intensify, businesses can expect ongoing disruption to key contractual relationships for a variety of reasons, including government-imposed restrictions on their activities, temporary shutdowns, supply chain interruptions, labour shortages, as well as liquidity concerns. The COVID-19 impacts are expected to extend beyond the resumption of business activities and will affect future relationships.

In the following primer, we identify practical steps market participants can take to monitor COVID-related risks under their existing contracts, as well as drafting considerations they can consider when negotiating new contracts in the wake of the pandemic.