Our Art Law practice group offers a wide range of legal services specifically aimed at the fine art community. As a full-service firm with offices in New York and London, our art law practice is international in scope and fully equipped to deal with all issues arising from the purchase, sale, collection and preservation of fine art, from art succession and philanthropy to commercial transactions and tax matters.
We excel in the structuring of art investment vehicles and in working with their managers to articulate their investment strategies and guidelines. We have the necessary experience to counsel and assist clients with the many regulatory and compliance issues involved in forming and operating art investment funds.
Our attorneys understand the value that our clients impute to their art and cultural property assets, and have the necessary experience to counsel, assist and provide creative solutions in the wide range of art-related matters identified below.
Representative Services
- Advise on all aspects of art investment funds, including the formation, preparation and negotiation of private placement and other offering documentation, ancillary contracts for investment advisors, fund administrators and others, and assistance with SEC, ERISA, ’40 Act and broker-dealer compliance and ongoing counseling on day-to-day and extraordinary issues.
- Provide estate and trust administration services, including developing intergenerational art succession plans that meet clients’ estate planning objectives.
- Advise clients in connection with philanthropic gifts and bequests to museums and foundations.
- Preparation of publishing agreements, artists’ agreements, personal representation agreements, consignment agreements, licensing agreements and other art-related contracts.
- Advise artists in connection with the protection of their moral, visual and other intellectual property rights.
- Defending businesses in their fair use of artistic images.
- Art-related litigation and disputes, including those dealing with copyright infringement, competing claims of ownership, fraud and misrepresentation, authenticity and attribution claims, artists’ moral rights and insurance disputes.
- Advise clients in all types of commercial art transactions, including negotiating terms of exhibition programs for art collections with galleries and museums, leveraging works of fine art to raise capital for individuals and art investment funds and advising buyers, sellers and dealers of art on diligence, disclosure and warranty issues.
- Provide efficient and practical guidance regarding anti-money laundering and other legal regulations specific to the purchase, sale and ownership of art.
- Assist clients in connection with the deferral of U.S. taxes through the use of 1031 like-kind exchanges and advise on compliance with relevant tax rules.
- Assist clients in obtaining specialized non-legal services in areas such as art title insurance, art financing and art appraisal services through our broad network of art professionals, service providers and other contacts in the art world.
Representative Clients
- Art investment funds and their managers
- Art collectors and their estates
- Art advisory and consulting firms
- Artists and their estates
- Other art market professionals
|