Partner; Co-Chair, Art Law Group
New York
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| Phone: | (212) 592-1444 |
| Fax: | (212) 545-3392 |
Columbia Law School, J.D., 1974
University of Pennsylvania, 1969
New York
U.S. District Court, S.D. New YorkU.S. District Court, E.D. New York
U.S. Court of Appeals, 2nd Cir.
U.S. Supreme Court
U.S. District Court, District of Columbia
U.S. Court of Appeals, DC Cir.
President, Art Law Commission of the Union Internationale des Avocats (International Association of Lawyers)
Association of the Bar of the City of New York, Chair: Committee on Art Law, 2004-2007
Member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Art Crime
International Bar Association
American Bar Association
New York State Bar Association
Howard is the co-chair of Herrick, Feinstein's International Art Law Group, which handles all aspects of commercial art matters, both in the litigation and transactional areas. He has been involved in several well-known and important litigations brought on behalf of foreign governments and heirs of Holocaust victims and others to recover stolen artwork or other cultural property, including the recent settlement of the long-standing litigation brought on behalf of the Estate of Lea Bondi Jaray to recover a Schiele painting confiscated by a Nazi agent in Austria in the late 1930's, which resulted in the recovery of the full value of the painting by the Estate. Howard was also involved in the recent recovery by the heir of the famous Jewish art dealer Jacques Goudstikker of 200 Nazi-looted artworks from the Dutch Government; recoveries on behalf of the Republic of Turkey of numerous valuable antiquities; and the recently-resolved action brought on behalf of the heirs of Kazimir Malevich, the world-renowned 20th Century Russian artist, to recover Malevich artworks from the City of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, which resulted in the recovery by the heirs of five Malevich paintings, one of which sold at auction at Sotheby's for $60 million, and another of which was recently sold to the Art Institute of Chicago.
Howard handles all types of art transactions, often with the assistance of other specialists at Herrick, including counseling its clients on international trade issues, loans, museum and private exhibitions, organizing and structuring business entities, trust and estate matters, insurance issues, tax questions, criminal law concerns, and other matters.
Representation of the heirs of the world-renowned Russian artist Kazimir Malevich in their litigation against the City of Amsterdam to reclaim artworks created by their ancestor. This litigation was successfully settled in April 2008 when the City of Amsterdam returned five Malevich paintings to the heirs.
Estate of Lea Bondi Jaray - "Portrait of Wally" Restitution
After over ten years of litigation, our client, the Estate of Lea Bondi Jaray, achieved a very favorable settlement in the case of United States v. Portrait of Wally, which has been credited with being one of the first to focus the world's attention on the problem of Nazi-looted art. Egon Schiele's Portrait of Wally was stolen in the late 1930's from Lea Bondi Jaray, a Jewish art dealer and collector, by a Nazi agent. The settlement compensates the heirs for the true value of the painting—$19 million—and provides for permanent signage acknowledging the painting's true provenance to be placed next to the painting after it is returned to the Leopold Museum in Vienna.
Marei von Saher - Restitution of Nazi-Looted Art
Representation of Marei von Saher in her efforts to recover hundreds of Nazi-looted artworks from the collection of her father-in-law, the renowned Dutch art collector and dealer, Jacques Goudstikker.
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