Art, luxury assets, and cultural property law continues to grow rapidly, becoming increasingly complex as artworks and luxury items are considered their own asset class. New technology has also given rise to unexplored regulatory challenges. Our art law attorneys understand that legal issues permeate all aspects of the art world as well as understand the risk landscape.
With several decades’ combined experience advising the art market, we offer clients in-depth legal advice on transactional, contentious, and regulatory matters. Our practice covers the full spectrum of legal issues relating to fine art and other collections, including matters of ownership, valuations of art, fraud, authenticity and provenance, foreign nation recoveries, art-related finance, intellectual property, and new technology, among other issues. We also assist clients in establishing art galleries in Europe to the subsequent day-to-day operations, including intermediation purchases and sales of high-value artworks from old masters to abstract expressionists.
We strive to find effective, innovative, and commercial solutions for our clients and pride ourselves in our entrepreneurial spirit, which we share with them. Our client base extends across all players in the art industry. We represent businesses, including galleries, art dealers, art advisors, private banks, tech companies, and more. Our clients also include individuals such as art collectors, artists and their estates, curators, academics, and family offices, as well as institutions such as museums, foreign governments, and art foundations.
Most recently, BSF attorneys secured a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court win on behalf of a family trying to recover a Pissarro painting the family lost while fleeing Nazi Germany (Cassirer v. Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection Foundation) Additionally, we won an important appellate ruling relating to fair use of photography involving artist Richard Prince (Cariou v. Prince).
Drawing from a bench of BSF trial attorneys focused on global investigations, anti-money laundering, and asset forfeiture and protection, our art law team deals with issues in connection to source of funds for artwork. Some of our recent asset forfeiture cases have involved substantial art collections.
The art market operates globally. With offices in Milan, Rome, and London, as well as throughout the United States, and with our network of specialist lawyers in other jurisdictions, we offer an unparalleled global reach and handle cross-border aspects of transactions and dispute resolution seamlessly.