An affiliate of one of Canada’s largest professional services firms has tapped a well-known Ottawa lawyer to lead its newly created law practice dedicated to clients in the charitable sector.
KPMG Law announced Thursday that Adam Aptowitzer has joined the firm as national leader of its new charitable and not-for-profit practice.
“Charities and not-for-profits are addressing some of the most pressing social and environmental issues and face increasing demands from donors and the public,” Justin Kutyan, senior partner at KPMG Law, said in a statement.
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“We are excited to join forces with Adam and his team to assist these organizations to understand their legal and tax obligations and provide practical advice that supports the high ethical standards and expectations of Canadians.”
A graduate of the University of Ottawa’s law school, Aptowitzer previously served as managing partner at Drache Aptowitzer LLP, a boutique Ottawa-based firm he established in 2010 that specialized in charity, tax and not-for-profit law.
That firm has now been dissolved. Aptowitzer’s colleagues, Alexandra Tzannidakis and Karen Cooper, are also joining KPMG Law, where they will specialize in providing legal services to charities and not-for-profit organizations as well as private citizens and corporations, with a focus on compliance and dispute resolution.
Aptowitzer, who has also written a book on starting and maintaining charities and was a recipient of OBJ’s Forty Under 40 award in 2012, began his career as a tax lawyer and gradually began to focus primarily on working with charities and non-profit organizations.
Since then, he has represented clients at the Tax Court of Canada, the Federal Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada. He also teaches at his alma mater, where he is an associate law professor.
“There’s not a lot of people that specialize in this,” Aptowitzer told OBJ on Thursday, adding he’s received multiple offers over the years from other firms looking to merge with or acquire his organization.
But he said those potential partnerships never felt like the right fit. Aptowitzer said moving to KPMG gives him the opportunity to broaden his client base on a national scale while working with an organization that has a strong commitment to social, environmental and governmental goals.
“It really is a good marriage,” he said.
Founded nearly 20 years ago, KPMG Law is an independent firm affiliated with KPMG LLP, which is part of a Netherlands-based network of firms with offices in 145 countries. KPMG Law has expanded rapidly in recent years as professional services firms seek to provide a broader range of advice to their clients.
KPMG Law now has offices in every major Canadian city. Its fields of practice include business, employment and labour, tax, immigration and trusts and estates law along with the newly created practice serving charities and non-profit organizations.
