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Art Law

The Fine Arts are surrounded with legal relationships that dealers, artists, designers and support vendors negotiate every day. With every transfer of a work of art, a host of legal issues follow, including insurance risks, transportation arrangements, dealer solvency, statutory fees, commissions, publication rights, artist's rights, and digital rights.

In the past, these potent legal arrangements were conducted informally -- through years of practice, or a handshake, or a brief receipt that records the bare essentials of a transaction. Then, the reputations of dealers, artists and vendors represented the chief surety of performance.

Today, however, dealers or artists may find themselves dealing with a new face, one more attuned to a quickly changing art landscape, but lacking in a reliable portfolio of past transactions. Risks have multiplied, and the damage that may be done to one's reputation if there is a transactional misunderstanding can have deep ramifications for one's future work.

Today's art environment demands greater clarity for the legal relationships which have always been beneath the surface. Increasingly, companies and individuals who work in the creative arts are using legal counsel to assist with business organization, the development of form commercial agreements, and to assist in negotiating specific transactions and resolving disputes in a manner that preserves the trust and confidence that artists place in those with whom they work.

It is our privilege to serve as counsel to galleries, artists and others who create and foster the art that beautifies our world.