Governments and national institutions are increasingly taking action to recover their cultural assets aided by international conventions such as UNESCO (1970) and UNIDROIT (1995) regulating the illicit export, importation and transfer of cultural property.
Since the Washington Conference on Holocaust-Era Assets in 1998 there has also been a huge growth in the number and value of claims by dispossessed owners and their heirs of artworks expropriated by the forces of fascist governments during World War II.
We have substantial experience of these claims, which often involve complex legal issues spanning many jurisdictions and long periods, as well as difficult moral questions.
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Many such cases are also highly emotive and sometimes politically sensitive affairs. We handle them with compassion and impartiality, both in mediation and in the courts.
We advise foreign governments and national institutions on recovery of important items of their national heritage that have found their way, through misappropriation or unlawful export, other countries.
We also act for the institutions or individuals that now hold such items and are receiving claims for their return, including Holocaust claims. Our client list includes the Medici Archives of Florence and the State Archives in Rome.
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Jeremy Scott
DD: +44 (0)20 7597 6105
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Judith A. Bresler
DD: +1 212 848 9893