Art law

In a nutshell

Whether you’re a billionaire whose wealth portfolio includes staggeringly expensive paintings, or a struggling musician seeking justice after hearing a song on the radio that’s ripping yours off, art law is very relevant to you. A conversation with lawyers from two of the top-three ranked firms for art law in Chambers UK made it clear to us that these are just two obvious examples: art law is much broader than that. “The area encompasses all types of issues related to art, the art market and cultural heritage” and includes both contentious and non-contentious elements, according to Farrer & Co associate Anisha Birk. “Any practice area can relate to art.” At Farrer, clients include “museums and galleries; historic houses and gardens; arts charities; and other participants in the art market like dealers, commercial galleries and financial institutions.” On the individual side, you’re working with “private collectors, advisers, artists and dealers.”

“I didn’t think the law could be so exciting.”

Tim Maxwell, a partner at Charles Russell Speechlys explains his route to the practice: “I came from the private client side. I had the great fortune to fall into it as a trainee working on a case with an old master picture.” Maxwell’s colleague Rudy Capildeo, a partner on the transactional side, says this: “My experience was working with dealers on high value transactions.” That means big money deals like “purchasing a painting for £19 million. It was exciting.” While such a transaction comes with “due diligence” and other typical corporate law admin, it also called for “understanding the piece itself and its history. It had crossed borders and belonged to an Italian count,” at one point even ending up in Nazi hands. That raised the question: “Was it a stolen painting? It was a thrill. I was a trainee at the time and I didn’t think the law could be so exciting.”

What Lawyers do

What you do depends largely on where you are and what practice area you’re based in. Farrer & Co is famous for its high-net-worth clients, so for Anisha Birk “there’s a lot of work that comes out of those clients with concerns of ownership, import/export, art financing, loans and so on. I then also work with cultural organisations.” With several galleries and museums on the books at Farrer, Birk adds that she does a lot of “IP policy advice, and compliance and regulation work.”

Capildeo says that on the transactional side, his “bread and butter is purchase and sale matters.” Alongside commodities like paintings and sculpture, Capildeo says there’s a fair bit of “work in the classic car field,” where lawyers “make sure engine and chassis numbers match up” and, of course, “ensure clients get the best prices.” Other matters include “art finance for collectors and dealers.” Charles Russell Speechlys also “advises artists’ estates,” which Capildeo describes as “highly unusual. Unlike pop musicians, artists become cool at 80 years old. No one has been buying your paintings for years and suddenly you’re looking at your studio and wondering about inheritance tax and so on.”

“Unlike pop musicians, artists become cool at 80 years old.”

On the contentious side, Maxwell says “the big public cases are generally against auction houses. Clients may be people who consign something to an auction house and feel the value was wrong or that the potential wasn’t spotted.” He recalls working on “a Banksy case,” while at Boodle Hatfield, where the parties involved “recovered a piece from the US and returned it to Folkestone. The old masters are more fascinating from a historical perspective, but Banksy stuff generates news copy.” Echoing the feelings of Capildeo and Birk, Maxwell notes that lawyers in this space “act across the art world, on any aspect of litigation: breaches of contract, fraud, debt recovery, IP for artists, art finance…”

“As a firm, there are so many different ways that art law pops up,” Birk suggests. “In private client you’re dealing with collectors and dealers, ownership and sales, import and export...” As for the banking sphere, art is treated as an “asset class. Parties make loan arrangements with art offered as the collateral.” The relevant organisations also “own commercial property,” adding a real estate element to the mix. “What might fall under the ‘art law’ umbrella is everywhere.”

Realities of the job

Eager to put your brush to the art law canvas? Pause a moment – Birk warns that “there’s no specific practice area called ‘art law.’ There are a number of different ones that intersect with the art world.” Rudy Capildeo tells a similar story: “While my practice has grown and grown and now takes up more than 100% of my time, it didn’t start that way,” adding that his grounding was in corporate law. Rather than setting your sights on art law straight away, it might be that the practice makes itself available to you after several years of practice.

“If you just like champagne and parties you’re going to get seen through quickly.”

If that’s a direction you’re keen to head in, Tim Maxwell lays out a few essentials. “It’s important to have an interest in the law as well as the art. If you’re interested in curating, do that.” Our sources also advise “getting as wide an experience” as possible as a practice foundation. “As an art lawyer you’re not always specialist,” Maxwell muses, “but you’re in a sector which means you get drawn into various areas.” Explain? “For example, galleries may need advice about property or employment.”

He unsurprisingly advises that you should have an “interest in the art world itself, spending time with genuine experts to learn more. If you just like champagne and parties you’re going to get seen through quickly.” On a more practical note, Capildeo suggests “getting a strong grounding in IP” as art, music and film are all good examples of intellectual property.