Shook Lends Litigation Heft to Art Law Focus, Reports Law360

Following the recent announcement of Shook’s expanded Art Law Practice, Law360 interviewed Senior Counsel Channah Norman and Tristan Duncan about the enrichment of services.

Norman was most recently responsible for providing strategic advice and legal counsel for the National Museum of the U.S. Army and its 46 subsidiary Army museums. “It’s my passion; it’s the area of law I’ve always wanted to practice day in and day out," Norman said in her Law360 interview. “It was a nice switch to take the museum law experience and put it into private practice.”

Duncan serves on the business council for Kansas City's Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. In her statement to Law360, she states that many Shook Hardy attorneys have similar art-adjacent roles, serving on panels and working with art institutions, and that their clients work with a range of issues related to art.

“What we have been told by these various contacts over the years, is that the art world was actually seeing more litigation and was needing more-seasoned litigators,” Duncan said. “It's a very fascinating and collegial world, and so they need counsel who also appreciates those relationships and will maintain that amicable approach to trying to resolve a dispute, but if that dispute breaks down, then they want litigators who can win in the courtroom as well as the court of public opinion.”

Shook’s expanded Art Law Practice provides legal counsel to museums, dealers, collectors, financial institutions and insurers on issues related to repatriation and restitution, copyright status, infringement claims, and disputes. Partner Alicia Donohue will also serve in a leadership role for the practice.