I am pleased to announce that I will be among the speakers in Milan on September 30, 2024 at a conference organized by the Universitá degli Studi della Campania Luigi Vantivelli and the UNESCO Chair on Business Integrity and Crime Prevention in Art and Antiquities Market: “Preventing Art Crimes Through Regulation and Self-Regulation.” To be held at the Palazzo Visconti, the conference will offer a full day of expert speakers on the topics of Updating the UNESCO International Code of Ethics for Dealers in Cultural Property; Codes of Conduct, Codes of Ethics and Other Soft Law Tools in Cultural Heritage (in which I will be a discussant); the Legal Impact of Due Diligence Procedures and Acquisition, Anti-Money Laundering in the Art Market; and Industry Practices and Judicial Applications: Lessons to be Learned. The program is below, and registration may be found here.

As the title and expertise of the participants suggest, this will be an excellent broad view of the question of regulation in cultural property, and the extent to which market participants can guide the outcome. It will focus on public-private partnerships for the prevention of wrongdoings against cultural property, and specific attention will be devoted to the role that codes of conduct, due diligence, and KYC procedures play in this area. I am excited to be a part of the event and see many old friends. I hope that if you are nearby you will join us, or attend remotely if you are not.

Topics: Anne Laure Bandle, Irina Tarsis, Saskia Hufnagel, Events, UNESCO, ARCA, Center for Art Law, Leiden University, Borel & Barbey, Giuseppe Calabi, Sunna Altnoder, Louise Malécot, Stefano Manacorda, Universitá Luigi Vantivelli, Tess Davis, Antiquities Coalition, Alessandra Donati, University of Milan Bicocca, Toshiyuki Kono, Kyushu University, Marc Balcells, Marco Colacurci, Lynda Albertson, Association for Research on Crimes Against Art, Rena Neville, Corinth Consulting Ltd., Arianna Visconti, Universitá Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Umit Turksen, Coventry University, Anna Mosna, Erika Bochereau, CINOA, Riccardo Ercole Omodel, University of Palermo, Eugenio Fusco, Milan Public Prosecutor, Guido Carlo Alleva, Giuseppe Catalano, Assicurazioni Generali S.p.A., Antonella Crippa, Intesa Sanpaolo, Palazzo Visconti, University Oberta de Catalunya, University of Sydney

I am pleased to be taking part in a symposium at the University of Kansas School of Law in Lawrence, Kansas, on February 23, 2024, entitled “A Museum's Purpose.” Organized by KU Law and the Kansas Journal of Law & Public Policy Symposium, the symposium will feature presentations on a variety of cultural property topics. I will discuss a paper I am writing about the emerging concept of Fluchtgut—flight goods, or property sold by Jewish owners fleeing Nazi persecution but after reaching neutral or free territory. Other speakers include Craig M. Blackwell, associate general counsel, Smithsonian Office of the General Counsel; Col. Scott DeJesse, senior heritage and preservation officer, U.S. Department of Defense; Derek Fincham, law professor, South Texas College of Law Houston; Michael Hoeflich, John H. & John M. Kane distinguished professor of law, University of Kansas School of Law; MacKenzie Mallon, provenance specialist, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art; Lauren Van Schilfgaarde, assistant professor of law, UCLA School of Law; and Jonathan Zwibel, deputy associate chief counsel, U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Topics: Events

On the heels of another successful annual conference in Geneva last week, I am very pleased to announce that the Responsible Art Market Initiative will be hosting its first New York Chapter event on Thursday morning, March 2, 2023 at Phillips Auctioneers on Park Avenue. Registration will be opened soon, but two panels will discuss sustainability issues in the market, and the ever-changing challenges and opportunities presented by NFTs. We are grateful to Phillips for welcoming us to their beautiful space, where we will have a chance after the event to see the art on view for auction. Join us for RAM's unique blend of real-world art market practitioners and experts, and a chance to get together.

So, please block off your calendars and look for registration soon!

Topics: Geneva, Events, Responsible Art Market initiative, Phillips Auctioneers

After a two-year hiatus, the Responsible Art Market Initiative is planning a return to its in-person annual conference at the end of this month in Geneva. For anyone who has attended RAM events or used its catalogue of guidance and best practices, this is exciting news and hopefully a chance to gather in a format that has been informative and enjoyable for many years now. As before, the gathering will be at the Palexpo in Geneva and the artgeneve art fair. 

This year’s topic is Intermediaries and Sustainability in the Art Market. I am pleased to have shepherded a working group that has drafted practical guidelines for intermediaries in the art market. We will present the guidelines, and then several intermediaries will work through a practical case study. In addition, panelists will discuss the role of sustainability in the marketplace.

Stay tuned for registration information. Obviously conditions are changing rapidly, but I hope to see you in Geneva!

Topics: Geneva, artgenève, Events, Responsible Art Market, Palexpo, Intermediaries

There’s just no other way to say it: the last 18 months have been extraordinarily hard. Professionally, what I have missed the most is the chance to connect with, and learn from colleagues, particularly those far away. It is therefore with great excitement and pride that I can announce that the International Bar Association’s Intellectual Property Section will hold a live, in-person conference next month on trends in IP law. As my second year as co-chair of the Art, Cultural Institutions and Heritage Law Committee winds down, I am so pleased that we will be contributing a panel to this terrific event about, what else, Non-Fungible Tokens. As anyone who has watched my LinkedIn feed this past summer will know, Berlin holds a very special place in my life and so I look forward to making my first trip overseas in a very long time to a city that is like a second home.

The program, to which the several committees organized, is below and registration is open.

Bis zum nächsten Mal in Berlin!

Topics: Berlin, Art Cultural Institutions and Heritage Committee o, Sullivan & Worcester LLP, Events, IBA, Nicholas M. O'Donnell, Anne-Sophie Nardon, Laurent De Muyter, Blanca Escribano, Frank P Maier-Rigaud, ABC Economics, Anne Vallery, Katharina Garbers-von Boehm, Büsing, Müffelmann & Theye, Martin Wilson, Phillips Auctioneers, Johann König, Elisa Henry, Ruben A Hofmann, Paulina Silva, Grace Nacimiento, Laurent Schummer, Luc Govaert, Joanne Wheeler, Jason Jarvis Jardine, Nazli Cansin Karga Giritli, Novartis, Niko Härting, Sajai Singh, Martin Viciano Gofferje, Borghese Associes, KÖNIG GALERIE, Erik Valgaeren, Özge Atilgan, Corey Salsberg, Felix Engelhardt, Christine Graham, Volodymyr Yakubovskyy

I am pleased to be speaking on a panel at the upcoming Global Auction House Summit presented by Invaluable, the leading technology partner for online auction services.  I will be presenting on the issues of Managing Reputation & Risk, and look forward to a lively discussion.  The conference schedule is reprinted below, and registration is available here. 

Topics: Auctions, London, Melanie Gerlis, The Art Newspaper, Sullivan & Worcester LLP, Events, Sotheby's, Nicholas M. O'Donnell, Art Loss Register, Real Estate Development, Affordable Housing, Institutional Shareholder Services, Proxy Voting Policies, John Albrecht, US Trust, ARTMYN, Cuseum, Andrea Danese, Athena Art Finance, Jakob Dupont, Bruun Rasmussen Auctioneers of Fine Art, Lori Hotz, Lobus, Bas Kuiper, Sophie MacPherson, Julian Radcliffe, Global Auction House Summit, Leonard Joel, Martina Batovic, Dorotheum, Evan Beard, Anna Brady, Anthony Calnek, Brendan Ciecko, Pierre Fautrel, Obvious, Andy Foster, Phillips, Financial Times, Dr. Anna-Sophie Hollenders, Raue LLP, AMFAD, Christopher McKeogh, Gene Shapiro, Sarah Wendell Sherrill, Mary-Alice Stack, Creative United, Rob Weisberg, Invaluable, Georgina C. Winthrop, Grogan & Company, Shapiro Auctions

Few institutions are as reliably at the forefront of issues of cultural property law as the DePaul University School of Law in Chicago.  Not surprisingly, they have another terrific event coming up.  I’ll be at the street art CLE I am giving at the New York City Bar Association, but otherwise I would make every effort to be there and I encourage anyone interested to do the same.  The presenters are experts and luminaries of the highest order.

Topics: Thomas R. Kline, Lori Breslauer, Alessandro Chechi, Rebecca Tsosie, DePaul University College of Law, Events, Patty Gerstenblith, Human Rights and Cultural Heritage, Karima E. Bennoune, Lubna S. El-Gendi, Stacey Jessiman de Nanteuil, Sarah Dávila-Ruhaak

I am pleased to announce that I will be speaking about my book A Tragic Fate: Law and Ethics in the Battle Over Nazi-Looted Art (now available in both hardcover and Kindle edition) and related topics on September 13, 2017 at the Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary University of London and the Institute of Art and Law.  Entitled “Nazi-Looted Art: From Fair and Just Solutions to Litigation,” I will give an overview of the topic of the intersection between legal and ethical challenges that have surrounded efforts to restitute art looted by the Nazis and their allies.  A panel discussion will follow with experts Tony Baumgartner of Clyde & Co. (and a member of the UK Spoliation Advisory Panel), Charlotte Woodhead (Assistant Professor at the University of Warwick and an instructor at the Institute of Art and Law) and Gregor Kleinknecht of Hunter Solicitors.  There will be a reception and an opportunity to buy and have copies of the book signed. 

Topics: Nazi-looted art, Events, A Tragic Fate, Law and Ethics in the Battle Over Nazi-Looted Art, Tony Baumgartner, Clyde & Co., Institute of Art and Law, Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary University of London, From Fair and Just Solutions to Litigation, Charlotte Woodhead, Gregor Kleinknecht, Hunter Solicitors

Readers of the blog will recall our view of Master Thieves: the Boston Gangesters Who Pulled off the World's Greatest Art Heist by Stephen Kurkjian.  Kurkjian's book is the definitive work on the 1990 robbery of several masterpieces from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, and explores--and dispels--numerous aspects of the infamous case. 

Topics: Stephen Kurkjian, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Events, Master Thieves: the Boston Gangsters who Pulled of, Massachusetts Historical Society

L'Harmattan has published a new volume entitled Éthique et patrimoine culturel—Regard croisés (Ethics and Cultural Patrimony: Viewpoints), which is a collection of papers presented at a conference in October, 2015 at L'Ecole du Louvre in Paris.  I spoke at the conference and submitted the full treatment of my remarks to the book entitled "Public Trust or Private Business? Deaccessioning Law and Ethics in the United States."  My co-presenters were eloquent and their expanded research and essays are well worth reading.  Copies can be ordered here.

Topics: cultural property, Denis Michel Boëll, Ecole du Louvre, National Consultative Ethics Committee, Deaccession, Schwabinger Kunstfund, Marie Cornu, Musée de la Marine, Council of Voluntary Sales, Tehran, Baptiste Brown, Marie Berducou, Stéphane Duroy, University of Toulouse Capitole, Michel Van Praët, University of Shahid Beheshti, Philippe Durey, Arnaud Beaufort, University of Poitiers, University Western Bretagne, Nathalie Heinich, Milan, Julien Chapuis, Pinacoteca di Brera, French National Commission for UNESCO, Philippe-Henri Dutheil, University Rennes, Vincent Negri, Céline Castets- Fox, Astrid Müller Katzenburg, Sophie Vigneron, Sullivan & Worcester LLP, Events, University of Kent, Museum for Byzantine Sculpture Collections and Art, Noëlle Timbart, Dominique Jarrassé, Claire Barbillon, Gilles Ragot, University of Montreal, State Museums in Berlin, International Society For Law Research of Cultural, Edouard Planche, Emmanuelle Polack, Université Paris Sud, EY Société d’avocats, Janet Blake, Jacques Bittoun, Catherine Chadelat, Jérôme Fromageau, Vincent Gautrais, Geraldine Goffaux Callebaut, Daniel Janicot