The art market is among the most international and least transparent markets in the world. It calls for lawyers who understand it from the inside.

Our team has worked within the market it advises, in an international gallery, at a London auction house, and in artists' estate management consultancy, with postgraduate specialisation at Sotheby's Institute of Art. We work alongside leading international law firms on cross-border matters, and we authored the Greece chapter of the European guide to AML compliance in the art market.

Who we act for

• Artists and their estates
• Collectors, private and institutional
• Galleries and art dealers
• Auction houses
• Valuers and art advisers
• Trustees and executors
• Museums and cultural institutions

How we help

• Transactions and contracts: sales and purchases, consignments, loans, artist representation agreements
• Provenance and title: provenance research, chain of title, questions of authenticity
• Restitution of cultural property: claims across multiple jurisdictions, working with foreign counsel
• Tax and succession: tax planning for collections, trusts, succession
• Disputes: with galleries, museums, dealers and auction houses
• Divorce and inheritance: valuation and division of artworks and high-value assets
• Regulatory compliance: AML, client due diligence, record-keeping, import and export

Market knowledge that matters in practice

We know what an auction house checks before accepting a work, how a consignment agreement is structured, what documentation a cross-border shipment requires, and where in a transaction problems usually arise. We do not learn the market from the case file.

Selected matters

• Restitution of cultural property: Conduct of a cross-border claim for the recovery of a work, in cooperation with an international law firm: provenance and chain of title research, assessment of recovery routes across jurisdictions, and management of the historic case record.
• Regulatory compliance for an international gallery : Design of the AML/KYC compliance framework for an international gallery opening in Athens: translating the obligations of the 5th AML Directive into operational due diligence, source of funds and record-keeping procedures.
• European AML guide for the art market: Authorship of the Greece chapter, in cooperation with the Center for Art Law: setting out the application of the 5th Directive in Greek law and the obligations it places on Greek market participants.

AML compliance in the art market

Since art market participants were brought within the scope of the 5th AML Directive, compliance has ceased to be optional. The obligations are clear; how to apply them in a gallery or advisory practice is considerably less so.

In cooperation with the Center for Art Law we authored the Greece chapter of the European AML guide for the art market. We advise galleries, dealers and art advisers on structuring their procedures: client due diligence, source of funds checks, record-keeping and reporting obligations.

Download the AML & Art Market Compliance Guide (PDF)

Why clients choose us

Art is not simply an asset. It is inheritance, identity, and often a family's most personal investment. Disputes concerning it are rarely purely legal.

We understand how the market works, what is at stake beyond the price, and when a matter calls for discretion rather than a courtroom. We work with a network of valuers, academics, provenance researchers and foreign counsel, so that every matter is approached as a whole.