Irell & Manella LLP has substantial expertise in the field of art and cultural property law.  In over 27 years, we have practiced in virtually every area related to fine art, both nationally and internationally, as well as cultural property, memorabilia and collectibles, for individual items and entire collections.  Our practice areas include purchase and sale transactions; auction and dealer consignments; loans to domestic and foreign museums and galleries; charitable giving through donations of art (fractional and whole); sales, use and personal property tax planning for purchases, transfers, sales and loans of art; tax deferred exchanges of art; copyright, trademark and other intellectual property rights; cultural heritage and patrimony concerns; private and public commissions of art; state, federal and foreign moral rights; import/export domestically and internationally; and recovery of stolen art.

Our clients include some of the world's foremost and well-known private collectors, including many museum trustees, as well as international auction houses, museums, motion picture studios and galleries.  Our group of attorneys is also sought out by collectors and owners with unique needs; for example, one of our art attorneys represents the Bloch-Bauer heirs with regard to the disposition of the five Gustav Klimt paintings restituted by Austria in January 2006.  On behalf of the Bloch-Bauer heirs, our attorneys have since negotiated and completed the sale of the iconic "gold" portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I, reported in headlines internationally as the most expensive painting ever sold.  Members of the art group also represent artists, on a pro bono basis, on a variety of art law matters.

Our art law practice is unique among other firms, because we work within the context of a full service firm.  This added advantage for our clients allows us to combine our art-specific experience with the expertise of our other practice disciplines, including tax, intellectual property, trusts and estates, secured transactions, entertainment, transactional, and litigation.

The attorneys in our art group also have extensive practical knowledge and experience dealing with transactions and events within the unique environs of the art world.  The head of our art group annually teaches a course in art and cultural property law at UCLA School of Law.  Our attorneys are frequently invited to lecture and make presentations on art and cultural property law issues at a variety of venues, including professional conferences (including ALI-ABA, PLI and other bar associations), auction houses, museums, and gatherings of private collectors, and are often quoted with regard to art related matters in various regional, national and international publications and periodicals.

The broad array of services and expertise provided by our art attorneys is reflected in our work in the many aspects of art world transactions:

• Purchase and Sale — Irell & Manella's art group has represented collectors across the full spectrum of art sales and purchases, from single works to entire collections, from antiquities to fine art to collectibles and memorabilia, between private parties (including individual collectors, dealers and museums), at auction, and private treaty sales, among others, ranging in value from thousands of dollars to single purchases in the tens of millions of dollars.  Our attorneys have advised on the many aspects of such transactions, including concerns, planning, negotiation and due diligence relating to title, condition, value, authenticity and provenance, as well as sales and use tax planning, tax deferred exchanges, import and export concerns and requirements, and use of agents for undisclosed parties.  We have prepared and reviewed a variety of purchase agreements, escrow agreements, bills of sale, review on approval agreements, and consultant agreements for art dealers, scholars, conservators and others, and art advisory service agreements.

• Art Loans — From single works of art to entire collections, locally, nationally and internationally, our attorneys have advised private collectors on the many concerns relating to the loan of art.  Our representation includes preparing and negotiating loan agreements and advising on tax concerns, import and export issues, insurance, government indemnities, anti-seizure protections, and allocation of risk, as well as security and environmental requirements.  As an example, in early 2006, our attorneys represented Maria Altmann and the other Bloch-Bauer heirs in negotiating and structuring the blockbuster exhibitions at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Neue Galerie New York of the five Gustav Klimt paintings restituted in January 2006 to the Bloch-Bauer heirs from Austria.  We have also advised on art and cultural property loans to exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum of New York; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Art Institute of Chicago; The National Gallery, London; National Gallery of Art, Washington DC; The Tate and Tate Modern; Smithsonian; Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art; and Portland Art Museum, among many others.

• Auction and Dealer Consignments — Irell & Manella has represented some of the largest single-owner sales of art ever at auction, as well as secured the largest ever guaranteed auction consignment.  We also annually represent individual collectors in separate and multiple consignments of works of art during the auction seasons, advising on guarantees, loans, and other terms and aspects of the auction process.  Such consignments often include record-setting auction prices for artists.  In August 2006, we negotiated and drafted the historic consignment of the four restituted Bloch-Bauer Klimt paintings, one of the most complex and valuable consignments ever; in November 2005, we structured the planning and purchase for one of our clients of the most expensive work of contemporary art ever sold at auction.  We also represented our client, one of the larger auction companies for high value automobile and collector cars, in the consignment of the renowned Otis Chandler car collection, one of the world's finest and rare examples of classic automobiles and motorcycles.  We have also frequently represented collectors on private treaty purchases and sales, as well as in private individual consignments to galleries, art advisors, and dealers for private sale.

• Recovery of Stolen Art — We have assisted private collectors and others responding to recovery claims against individual works of art in their collections. Advising on the foregoing concerns and noting particular items in the provenance that raise additional concerns, are also part of our efforts when representing a purchaser with regard to their due diligence prior to acquiring art.

• Cultural Patrimony — Our attorneys have represented collectors in a multitude of transactions involving cultural patrimony.  From export and import licenses and permits and related concerns, customs, foreign national umbrella and theft laws, domestic and international treaties, bi-lateral agreements and conventions, we have advised our clients as they make their way through these complex issues with regard to the purchase and sale or loan of cultural property, including native American, ethnological tribal, oceanic, and similar art, antiquities, archeological artifacts, and national and historic treasures relating to many nations, including the U.S., France, Italy, Germany, Greece, Britain, Egypt, Columbia, Mexico, and South Africa, among others.

• Museums — We have advised museums on copyright, trademark and other intellectual property matters related to art and collectibles, as well as on foreign and domestic moral rights (including the Visual Artist Rights Act), and other concerns relating to deaccession, removal, deinstallation, acquisitions, publications and merchandising, and abandoned art loans as well as claims for recovery of looted art.  We have also advised on ownership and operational structure and formation issues related to proper tax and foundation planning.

• Sales, Use, and Personal Property Tax — Irell & Manella frequently advises on, and has structured and implemented, sales, use, and personal property tax planning for a variety of small and large collectors with regard to purchases, sales and loans of art.  We have also advised and assisted in the preparation of state legislation creating exemptions from these taxes for art on loan for public display. Because of our unique expertise and experience with sales and use tax related to art transactions, collectors have frequently sought our advice, and our attorneys have assisted collectors with voluntary disclosure and payment programs with state tax authorities in a variety of states with regard to sales and use taxes.  Such advice and planning is also a necessary element of planning for an intended loan of art by a collector.

• Public and Private Commissions of Art — Our attorneys have advised, negotiated and documented commissions of both private and public art projects, including a major state-of-the-art national football stadium and convention complex involving twelve separate public art commissions, a prime retail and residential project in the heart of Hollywood, CA, a major resort, casino and shopping complex in Nevada, and a major redevelopment real estate project involving several city blocks, multiple buildings and public areas on the west coast.  We also have substantial experience in handling the many aspects of private commissions between collectors and artists for both public and private display.

• Charitable, Fractional and Planned Giving of Art — We have also advised individual collectors on their charitable gifting of art, including fractional giving and partial donations (with particular attention to the recent changes in tax law effective August, 2006 affecting this favored method of gifting), monetary contributions to fund the purchase of art by museums and foundations, and construction of wings, other additions and new facilities, through deeds of gift and other planning vehicles.

For more information, please contact Steve Thomas.