Art and Due Diligence Solicitors

Counterparty due diligence

We conduct comprehensive counterparty due diligence in any possible scenario including sanctions, acquisition or sale of art or cultural assets, and investments. We frequently help clients navigate complex and cross-jurisdictional operations, and often work on high-profile cases.

Our counterparty due diligence services include:

• Anti money laundering (AML) compliance: we conduct robust AML compliance checks, detecting and preventing potential money laundering activities to protect our clients’ transactions. We also draft AML policies and procedures for Art Market Participants and can advise on reports to the authorities.

• Sanctions screening: we screen transactions to detect individuals, entities or countries which are subject to economic sanctions, in accordance with international regulations.

• Suspicious activity reports (SARs): we advise on the process of identifying and reporting any suspicious activity our clients might encounter in the course of transactions, ensuring that all legal obligations are met, and a clean compliance record is maintained.

• Acquisition and sale of art assets: Whether buying, selling or loaning art assets, we advise on structuring transactions that adhere to AML and sanctions requirements, minimising legal risks.

• Risk assessment: we conduct comprehensive risk assessment of art-related transactions, identifying potential compliance vulnerabilities and creating strategies to mitigate them.

Ownership due diligence & expert opinion

In addition to Counterparty Due Diligence for art transactions, our team regularly advises clients on issues surrounding other due diligence issues pertaining to artworks and cultural property objects. These include the provenance of artworks and possible ownership issues, the implications of suspicions that an artwork or artefact may have been lost, stolen or looted and the possible routes to resolving such situations in a bespoke way, thus avoiding adverse publicity which may undermine the reputation of the object, the reputation of an entire collection and/or of those associated with it.

We also regularly help our clients navigate the legal risks flowing from questions of authenticity, attribution, condition and the shipping of artworks across borders.