Art Law

Why do Art Lawyers need our services?

The art market is notorious for being riddled with strong opinions, politics and conflicts of interest. Most documentation that supports an artwork's authentication has been constructed to deliberately create an opinion, often to encourage the sale of the artwork. As such, any 'authoritative documentation' is at risk of being (and often is) deeply flawed.

Art lawyers are always in need of factually proven documentation to present as evidence in cases. Many lawyers are unaware of the level of documentation and what a systematic analysis of the facts can uncover on particular artworks.

Our services provide a thorough perspective on the artwork in question and circumstances throughout its history, this greatly impacts how a case is put together.

Without our due diligence services, cases become based on unquestioned 'opinions' of 'experts' that are often effected by conflicts of interest.

Depth of Services

Our services are tailored to the needs of each legal case. Research packages can include: provenance data recovery; including proof of ownership at different points in time, forensic analysis, price analysis, condition reporting, art dealer assessment.

Our first priority is to provide a broad perspective of the facts that could affect the outcome of a case. This process also shows the likely positions and arguments that the defence / prosecution could bring to the case.

We are then able to see how the factual information can be used to create the desired outcome, working with the legal practitioner towards the strongest position for their client. This is often a complex and highly collaborative process.

Results

Legal practitioners can focus on the legal ground for the case, whilst the factual building blocks we provide are built from an in-depth understanding of acute areas of the historical art market.

Together, the perspective that is generated is solid. This enables the Lawyer to give a full account to their client about the risks of progressing to arbitration.

The factual data gathered strengthens the objectivity and assists in the selection of the most appropriate legal precedent, greatly increasing the chances of successful arbitration.

Legal references are available on request.