Finance Monthly Global Awards 2018 Edition

ART & CULTURAL PROPERTY LAW FIRM OF THE YEAR Firm Profile Constantine Cannon was founded in 1994 as a boutique antitrust firm by Lloyd Constantine, the former Chief of the Antitrust Bureau of the Office of the Attorney General of New York, and maintain a strong commitment to antitrust today. Constantine Cannon London opened in 2013 as a specialist legal practice with three leading international practice areas in: i. Art Law: Constantine Cannon’s internationally renowned art and cultural property law team draws on a deep knowledge of the art market, the outstanding legal expertise of lawyers from a variety of jurisdictional and linguistic backgrounds, and a commitment to superlative client service. ii. Competition Law and Counselling: Constantine Cannon provides a full range of services in the competition area including advice and representation in litigation, for both claimants and defendants. The firm acts primarily for corporate clients and is particularly renowned for its experience in payments, telecoms and air transport. iii. Litigation: Constantine Cannon’s seasoned litigators support the art and competition practices but also engage in other commercial litigation and act for whistleblowers with potential qui tam claims in the United States. The firm is known for its willingness to enter into alternative fee arrangements and its readiness to take cases to trial. About Pierre Valentin Pierre Valentin is the partner of Constantine Cannon in charge of the firm’s Art & Cultural Property Law Group practice. He has spent the last 20 years advising art collectors, art businesses and art not-for-profits organisations on the law. Prior to founding Constantine Cannon in London, Pierre Valentin was Associate General Counsel and Senior Director of Sotheby’s in London. He subsequently established the art law practice of Withers, the private client law firm. Clients of Constantine Cannon’s Art & Cultural Property Law Group include art collectors, art galleries, art dealers, auction houses, artists, museums, private banks, family offices, insurance companies and art investment funds. About half of those clients are based in the UK and the rest of Europe, a quarter in the USA and the rest in the Middle East and Asia. Clients rely on Constantine Cannon’s Art & Cultural Property Law Group to assist them in resolving disputes, structuring and documenting transactions and giving advice on a range of issues including export controls, taxation, anti-money laundering, intellectual property rights, endangered species and consumer protection. Pierre Valentin is a trustee of the Artist’s Collecting Society, one of the two societies collecting copyright and the resale right on behalf of artists in the UK. He is a qualified CEDR mediator and an accredited mediator to the World Intellectual Property Office in Geneva. He is a Board member of Professional Advisors to the International Art Market (PAIAM), which he founded in 2011. Until 2016, he was Chairman of the Board of Trustees of World Monuments Fund Britain. Pierre lectures at the Sotheby’s Institute and at Christie’s Education. He has also lectured at the University of Milano-Bicocca (Italy) and at ESA Business School in Beirut (Lebanon). He is Fluent in French, Italian and Spanish. Notable Legal Work Bakwin v. Mardirosian. Represented Michael Bakwin in relation to the recovery of paintings stolen as part of the largest theft of paintings from a private residence in the USA. Successfully persuaded the English court that a contract signed by Bakwin was void for duress, leading to the identification of the possessor of the paintings and to their recovery. Scheps v. Fine Art Logistics. Represented a contemporary art collector following the disappearance of a sculpture by Anish Kapoor from a London based storage facility. Successfully persuaded the English court to award significant damages to the collector. Haunch of Venison v. HMRC. Represented the Haunch of Venison gallery in a dispute with HMRC over the importation in the UK of works by Bill Viola and Dan Flavin. Persuaded the Court of Appeal that video works and light works qualified as works of sculpture, accordingly they should be taxed at the lower rate of UK import VAT and they should be exempt of import duty. Accidia v. Dickinson. Defended the Dickinson gallery against accusations of fraudulently taking a secret commission over the sale by the gallery of a drawing attributed to Leonardo da Vinci. The court found that the gallery had not behaved fraudulently but that it had taken a secret commission. Successfully persuaded the court to award Dickinson a measure of compensation in recognition of the fact that they had successfully sold the drawing. Levine v. heirs of René Gimpel. Represented a collector who had bought a painting by Pissarro from a well-established London dealership. The painting was claimed by the heirs of a Jewish art dealer persecuted by the Nazis. Secured a judgment from the English Court in favour of our client, acknowledging his full ownership of the painting. Lyon & Turnbull v. one of their clients. Represented Scottish auction house Lyon & Turnbull in a dispute with their Hong Kong based clients who withdrew an entire collection shortly before the scheduled auction of the collection. The dispute was eventually settled by mediation. www.constantinecannon.co.uk Finance Monthly Global Awards 2017 www.finance-monthly.com 33 UNITED KINGDOM