The Fondation pour le Droit d’Art (Art Law Foundation) is a Geneva-based group that sponsors exploration of important topics at the intersection of art and law.  Over the last few years, often in collaboration with the Art Law Centre of the University of Geneva, they have explored with particular skill a number of complex questions about the commercial components of the international art market.  As we have touted before, their events are routinely of the highest quality.  I am pleased to note the following upcoming event on January 26, 2017 at artgenève, which I am very much looking forward to attending (the program is in English).  Registration is available here.  Hope to see you there! 

The NYU School of Professional Studies and Jane C.H. Jacob of Art Vérité, Alice Farren-Bradley of the Museum Security Network, and Christopher A. Marinello of Art Recovery Group will present this year’s edition of the Art Crime Symposium next week in New York. This conference annually puts together a remarkable array of experts and speakers, and this year is no different.  Three days of panels addressed to he themes of Theft and Fraud; Looting and Destruction; and Fakes and Forgeries will challenge and illuminate the audience.  Registration is available here, and the following is drawn from the program.  Highly recommended!

On November 8, 2016, a conference will take place organized jointly by the Art Law Foundation and the Art-Law Centre of the University of Geneva entitled Risks in the attribution of works of art: expert practices and legal considerations.  These organizations have steadly put forth multiple events per year that stand out for their breadth and substance.  Registration and further information are available here for this event, which promises to be another top-level presentation.  The general program (my translation) is below: 

The details are out on the annual National Cultural Heritage Law Moot Court Competition at DePaul College of Law in Chicago.  Information and registration are available here.  DePaul features one of the preeminent legal curricula about cultural property, and reliably puts out terrific programming.  One such event is the annual moot court competition, for which interested volunteers and judges are always welcome.  Previous topics have included the always-contentious scope of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act on cultural disputes, theNative American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act and the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment; the constitutionality of the Theft of Major Artwork Act, which was passed under the Commerce Clause; the Immunity from Seizure Act and the equitable defense of laches; and the mens rea requirement and extraterritorial application of the Archaeological Resources Protection Act.

The Art Law Centre in Geneva, which has sponsored terrific events in the past, is holding another at the end of next month:the Second All Art and Cultural Heritage Law Conference. Registration is available now (before June 13) for what looks to be an engaging two days. From the program:

The Art-Law Centre and the UNESCO Chair in the International Law of the Protection of Cultural Heritage are proud to invite you to participate in the second “All Art and Cultural Heritage Law” conference, which will be dealing with the two following highly relevant themes: cultural heritage in the crossfire and the relationship between law and ethics in the field of cultural heritage. It will also present some national and regional experiences regarding the implementation of cultural heritage law. Once again Geneva hopes to be for these two days the “capital of the world” of art and cultural heritage law.

I have not been able to manage it in years prior, but a bi-annual event is coming up soon that is well worth the visit for anyone in the vicinity. The Authentication in Art (AiA) foundation is an independent non-profit that facilitates and controls the AiA Congress. This year’s Congress, the first since 2014, will take place next month in The Hague.  Registration is available on the group’s site here.

Event—The Perspective of the Art Market in Italy

A fascinating event will be held in Milan on April 9, 2016 on the current perspective of the art market in contemporary Italy.  I cannot make it, but it promises to be a worthwhile event for anyone able to attend.  Market-focused discussions like this are an essential component of a sophisticated understandingof the current situation. 

 I am pleased to be speaking at a conference in two weeks at Georgetown University Law Center entitled Intersections in Cultural Heritage Law. The two-day conference will address developments in international human rights and cultural heritage law, intersections of criminal and civil law concerning cultural property, extraterritorial protection of cultural property, and the international movement and restitution of cultural artifacts. In addition, world heritage and the world court will be discussed.

The Lawyers' Committee for Cultural Heritage Preservation (LCCHP) has announced the program for its its Seventh Annual Conference on Friday, March 25, 2016 at Fordham University School of Law in New York City.

The Geneva-based Foundation for Art Law (Fondation pour le Droit de l’Art/FDA) is organizing next month the latest in its series of events under the rubric “Art Finance & Law.” The conference is entitled “Art Finance & Law : Risks, Rules, and Opportunities in Investments in Art” (Art Finance & Law : Risques, règles et opportunités dans les investissements en art).  It will take place in Paris on February 12, 2016 at AXA Insurance, Hôtel de Vaupalière, 25 Avenue Matignon, from 14:00-18:00, in collaboration with l’Association d’Avocats  Conseils d’Enterprises (ACE, or the Assocation of Business Counsel Attorneys).