Jacques Schuhmacher is the Executive Director of Provenance Research at the Art Institute of Chicago, where he leads the museum’s provenance initiatives across the entire collection, including building on the museum’s existing provenance research practice. He served as the Senior Provenance Research Curator at the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in London. During his tenure at the V&A, he was responsible for leading research efforts into the provenance of the entire collection. His expansive work across departments and regions included work on a wide range of restitution and repatriation cases. His research led to the return of several objects to their countries of origin, including a golden ewer from 2,000 BCE to Turkey.

Schuhmacher is a leader in the field. He has published widely on provenance matters and co-founded a working group to share information between museums in the United States and Europe, which has rapidly grown from 25 to 130 provenance experts engaged in this important work.

Catherine Hickley is a Berlin-based arts journalist. She is the Museums & Heritage editor of The Art Newspaper and a regular contributor to the arts pages of The New York Times. She is the author of The Munich Art Hoard: Hitler’s Dealer and His Secret Legacy, published in English by Thames & Hudson and in German by Czernin Verlag. A graduate in French and German from London University, she held a variety of roles at Bloomberg News between 1997 and 2013, including Berlin bureau chief and the editor responsible for European government and political news.

Jane Kallir is an American art dealer, curator and author. She is co-director of the Galerie St. Etienne in New York, which specializes in Austrian and German Expressionism as well as self-taught and “outsider” art.

In 2020, the gallery ceased commercial operations and became an art advisory. Its archives and library were transferred to the Kallir Research Institute, a foundation established in 2017. Kallir serves as President of the KRI. She has curated exhibitions for many American and international museums and is the author of the catalogue raisonné of Egon Schiele’s work in all mediums.

David D’Arcy is a freelance art critic and journalist whose articles can be found in such publications as The Arts Fuse, The Art Newspaper, CNN, NPR, SFGate, Irish Times, IndieWire, Observer, Vanity Fair, The National, San Francisco Chronicle, Screen Daily and more.

As co-chair of the Art Law Group at Herrick, Feinstein, Howard Spiegler has been involved in several of the best-known and most important litigations brought on behalf of foreign governments and heirs of Holocaust victims and others to recover stolen artwork or other cultural property. In one of the first cases involving Nazi-looted art, he represented the Estate of Lea Bondi Jaray to recover a Schiele painting confiscated by a Nazi agent in Austria in the late 1930’s. Working with the U.S. Attorney’s Asset Forfeiture Unit, Howard handled a ten-year litigation against the Leopold Museum in Austria, which possessed the painting, and the Museum of Modern Art, which had it on exhibition. Settled just before trial, the Estate recovered the full value of the painting, and the work was exhibited at the Museum of Jewish Heritage for several weeks before returning to the Leopold Museum, where a plaque describing the true history of the painting is permanently affixed, as required by the settlement. Howard was also involved in the recovery by the heir of the famous Jewish art dealer Jacques Goudstikker of 200 Nazi-looted artworks from the Dutch Government and recoveries on behalf of the Republic of Turkey of numerous valuable antiquities. After practicing for some 50 years, including at the leading art law firm of Kaye Spiegler, which he and his law partner, Larry Kaye, formed and led, Howard retired from the practice of law earlier this year.

Michael B. Mukasey recently served as Attorney General of the United States, the nation’s chief law enforcement officer. As Attorney General from November 2007 to January 2009, he oversaw the U.S. Department of Justice and advised on critical issues of domestic and international law. Judge Mukasey joined Debevoise as a partner in the litigation practice in New York in February 2009, focusing his practice primarily on internal investigations, independent board reviews and corporate governance. From 1988 to 2006, Judge Mukasey served as a district judge in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, becoming Chief Judge in 2000. From 1972 to 1976, Judge Mukasey served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and as Chief of the Official Corruption Unit from 1975 to 1976. His practice consisted of criminal litigation on behalf of the government, including investigation and prosecution of narcotics, bank robbery, interstate theft, securities fraud, fraud on the government and bribery.

Laurel Zuckerman‘s work currently focuses on the art world and the Holocaust. She explores how linked open data, natural language processing, network analysis and the digital tools and techniques of investigative data journalism can be used to identify patterns in false provenances in Nazi-looted art and duress sales. In 2016, after twelve years of research, she filed a lawsuit against the Metropolitan Museum of Art for the restitution of Picasso’s The Actor.

Zuckerman previously worked in corporate IT projects as a superuser, project manager and solutions expert specializing in SAP supply chain systems. She is the author of two books published by Fayard, including the acclaimed “tragi-comedy” Sorbonne Confidential. She is a member of Investigative Reporters and Editors.

Marc Masurovsky co-founded the Holocaust Art Restitution Project (HARP) in September 1997 and served as its Director of Research. Since 1980 he has examined the general question of assets looted during the Nazi era. He worked as an expert historian on a class-action lawsuit filed by Jewish claimants against three leading Swiss banks, accusing them of having expropriated the property that their families had deposited in their safes and bank accounts. As a consultant and historian for the Department of Justice’s Office of Special Investigations, he investigated alleged Nazi war criminals living in the U.S. and post-war relations between former Nazi officials and Allied intelligence agencies. Mr. Masurovsky earned his M.A. in Modern European History from American University in Washington, D.C. For his Master’s thesis, he researched “Operation Safehaven: the Allied response to Nazi post-defeat planning, 1944-1948”. He is the co-author with Fabrizio Calvi of Le Festin du Reich (Editions Fayard, 2006).

James Ratcliffe is the General Counsel and Director of Recoveries at the Art Loss Register. Before joining the Art Loss Register, James practiced as a solicitor in commercial litigation in London. Prior to that, his academic background was in archaeology. James now manages the recoveries and restitution teams at the ALR, working closely with law enforcement agencies and insurers to negotiate solutions to numerous cases involving stolen and looted art and cultural property across the globe.

Nicholas O’Donnell’s practice focuses primarily on complex civil litigation, for which he has appeared before the Supreme Court of the United States. He represents corporations, employers, individuals, investment advisers, banks, and others around the world in contract, employment, securities, consumer protection, tort and domestic relations cases, with particular experience in the German-speaking world. He is also the editor of the Art Law Report, a blog that provides timely updates and commentary on legal issues in the museum and visual arts communities, one of his areas of expertise. Nick is one of the leading practitioners in the United States in matters concerning claims to allegedly Nazi-looted works of art.

Lucian Simmons is the Head of Provenance Research at the MET. He has worked at Sotheby’s since 1995, most recently serving as Vice Chairman and Worldwide Head of the Restitution Department and Senior Specialist for the Impressionist and Modern Art Department. Prior to joining Sotheby’s, he was a partner in the London law firm of Barlow, Lyde and Gilbert. Having studied law at the London School of Economics, he was called to the Bar in 1984 and later requalified as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales. He is a regular public speaker on art law, restitution, art history, and the fine and decorative arts.

Marc Porter is Chairman of Christie’s Americas, and a member of Christie’s Executive Management Group. Over his 25 years with the company, Mr. Porter has worked in a series of roles in Specialist and Management divisions. In Spring 2018, he directed the sale of the Peggy and David Rockefeller Collection, which was the largest collection to ever appear at auction, as well as the most valuable collection sold for philanthropic causes. Mr. Porter has been involved with the evolution of the global art business, including Online Commerce, Restitution and Private Sales. Mr. Porter created Christie’s first-ever online sales on behalf of The Estate of Elizabeth Taylor and The Estate of Andy Warhol, which have developed into one of Christie’s three primary sales channels. In the restitution field, Mr. Porter has led efforts in ground-breaking acknowledgment of matters regarding World War II period spoliation and national patrimony.

Thomas R. Kline advises clients on a wide variety of art, museum, and cultural heritage matters, including issues of ownership, theft, authenticity, breach of contract, insurance, and related disputes. Since 1989 he has practiced in litigation, arbitration, and dispute resolution, and he has represented governments, museums, churches, foundations, and families in recovering stolen art and cultural property. He also represents American museums and collectors responding to claims.

Tom is Of Counsel in SCH’s Art Law Group. In recent years, he has focused his practice on litigation, dispute resolution and advice concerning art, cultural property, museums, non-profit governance, and related issues. Several of Tom’s cases have involved art objects that were looted in wartime from Cyprus, Germany, and elsewhere.

Raymond J. Dowd is a member of Dunnington’s cultural property and museums, litigation and arbitration, intellectual property, advertising, art and fashion law, international, investigations, Italy desk and France desk practice areas. He has served as lead counsel in high-stakes, high-profile litigations and arbitrations in New York for over two decades. His book Copyright Litigation Handbook (Thomson Reuters/Westlaw) has received critical acclaim. Acting as a fiduciary by serving on non-profit boards has shaped his practical problem-solving approach and perspective.

Business disputes form the core of Mr. Dowd’s practice. He works with a lean, experienced team, including trusted experts, to contain, avoid, minimize, and settle disputes. Matters often involve foreign law and conflict-of-laws principles, service or discovery in foreign jurisdictions. Mr. Dowd regularly represents television broadcasters in disputes relating to brand protection and content distribution in the United States, particularly anti-piracy work. Ground-breaking litigation to recover artworks lost during World War II has gained amicus curiae support from Holocaust survivors and heirs.

Irina Tarsis, Esq., brings business and art history training to her practice of art law. She concentrates on disputes related to ownership of visual art. Founder and Director of the Center for Art Law, she conducts provenance research and consults on art law matters such as title disputes, copyright infringement and fair use, artists’ rights, restitution, authenticity and provenance research. Ms. Tarsis is a regular speaker on resale royalty rights, due diligence in provenance research, fair use issues affecting visual arts, and many other art law-related topics.

Amanda Buonaiuto is a Brazilian lawyer with a specialization in Nazi-looted art restitution, earned through her LL.M. at the University of Bonn, Germany. With expertise in provenance research, she is responsible for leading and managing of the Nazi-Looted Art Restitution Project for the Center for Art Law.

Peter J. Toren is an intellectual property attorney in Washington, D.C. where he helps individuals and companies protect their IP rights. Mr. Toren is representing his family in a case against the Federal Republic of Germany involving family art stolen during the Second World War. (Toren v. Federal Republic of Germany, 1:16-cv-01885-RJL (D.D.C.)). Prior to entering private practice with Sidley Austin LLP, Mr. Toren was a federal prosecutor and handled a number of high-profile investigations involving violations of the CFAA, Criminal Copyright, Trafficking in Counterfeit Goods and the EEA. He is the author of the leading treatise on criminal violations of intellectual property rights and computer crime, Intellectual Property & Computer Crime, (Law Journal Press), and the co-author of Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 (Wolters Kluwer). He has published over 100 articles and won the 2010 Burton Award for Excellence in Legal Writing for his article, The Intersection of Intellectual Property and Bankruptcy Law.