Veteran Auction House Attorneys Have Joined Forces to Create a New Boutique Art Law Firm

by admin

Feb 13, 2020

artnet

With the boom in the global art world over the past few decades
naturally comes a simultaneous increase in the number of
high-stakes legal disputes that test questions of ownership,
authenticity, and liability. Now, a powerhouse group of art lawyers
are teaming up under one roof to take on the growing demand.

Art lawyers John Cahill and Jonathan Olsoff, who both recently
departed Sotheby’s auction house after it was acquired by telecom
magnate Patrick Drahi last year, are joining forces with art
specialist Paul Cossu to form the firm Olsoff, Cahill, Cossu LLP,
operating in New York, Los Angeles, London, and Zurich.

The partners have also formed a strategic alliance
with London firm Joseph Hage Aronson LLP.
Hage has worked with high-profile artist such as Damien Hirst and
Gerhard Richter, as well as the Francis Bacon estate.

“The art world and even the art market has long had a fairly
laid-back culture when it comes to using legal tools,” Cahill told
Artnet News. “For many collectors and even dealers, ‘getting too
legal’ took away from what is meant to be primarily about the
art.”

John Cahill

John Cahill.

But that has changed in the three decades that he and his
partners have been practicing law, he says. “There have always been
a lot of risks in the market—ranging from true ‘bad guys’ to
innocent mistakes—but those have grown with increased regulation
(both in the UK and in the US) and more complex transactions,” he
says. “Sophisticated financial arrangements have entered the art
market; the numbers and risks are bigger across the board, and
everyone in the art world—collectors, advisors, dealers, and even
artists—need to understand the risks and get the right tools.”

The firm aims to become a destination for clients seeking advice
and insight about art-related issues including transactions,
litigation, and legal counseling that are often unique to the art
business. In addition to legal services, Cahill said the firm plans
to launch an ancillary company to supply support services including
due diligence research, insurance, shipping,
copyright clearance, escrow services, transaction structuring,
financing arrangements, and anti-money laundering
checks.

Olsoff previously worked at Covington & Burling and Skadden
Arps, and then spent two decades at Sotheby’s, eventually becoming
worldwide general counsel. Cahill served as general counsel at
Phillips and later as executive vice president and chief commercial
officer at Sotheby’s (in a deal-making, non-legal role).

Cossu has spent his entire career in private practice, most
recently as a partner at Pryor Cashman.

Also joining the firm as a partner in Los Angeles is Aimée
Scala, who left a longtime photo editor position at
Artforum to begin her legal career in New York with Cahill
Cossu, before building a fine art, entertainment, and intellectual
property practice in LA.

Meanwhile, attorney Pamela Grutman will be based in New York
focusing on tax, estate planning, nonprofits, philanthropic, and
artistic legacies.

The post Veteran Auction House Attorneys Have Joined Forces
to Create a New Boutique Art Law Firm appeared first on artnet
News.