ART LAW

We are one of the leading German law firms in art law. Our firm is part of Berlin's art and culture scene, having emerged from it and grown within it. We advise private individuals on the development and expansion of their art collections. We advise foreign artists who wish to grow on the German market as well as domestic artists who wish to make a lasting name for themselves abroad.

In the field of art law, we advise art and cultural institutions, museums, publishers and associations, among others, on the drafting of their contracts, on restitution issues and on questions of international purchase and sale. We advise galleries in their capacity as businesses, but also as social meeting places. When drafting all gallery contracts, our aim is to take into account the individuality of each gallery owner and the artists they represent.

A special focus of our work lies in the structuring and legal protection of artists' estates. We have worked out a multitude of solutions through which the oeuvre of important artists has been permanently secured, catalogues raisonnés have been compiled and co-operations and partnerships with public and private institutions have been institutionalised. Our knowledge of the industry and our network in the art market, built on decades of discreet trust, have not infrequently helped us to identify links not previously envisaged and to establish unexpected suitable constellations.

When providing legal advice to private art collections, the focus is often on tax aspects in addition to contractual and structural issues. Apart from business succession, the donation or inheritance of art within the family circle is the only tax law privilege in succession planning. Our lawyers have a wealth of experience in structuring these models.

We advise the art trade and auction houses on all stages of dealing with art and cultural assets. For money laundering prevention, which has been tightened in the art trade since 2020, we have founded the joint venture legeARTIS with the Cologne-based tech start-up Kerberos Compliance and offer obligated dealers a user-friendly and secure compliance platform. With our app, galleries and auction houses can fulfil their obligations without expert knowledge and in simple steps at any time from anywhere, avoid annoying paperwork and - most importantly from a business perspective - conduct their business without major delays.