Partner, Co-Chair of the Art Law
Group
Herrick Feinstein, LLP
“While pursuing my law degree, I served as Editor-In-Chief of
the St. John's Law Review. It was a very important part of my
law school life. Next year will be my 40 Year Law School
Reunion. Many of my friends today were my friends back then”,
notes Larry Kaye `70, a Partner and Co-Chair of the Art Law Group
at Herrick Feinstein, LLP. Mr. Kaye is renowned for his
representation of foreign governments, victims of the Holocaust,
families of famous artists and other claimants in connection with
the recovery of stolen art and antiquities. Over the years,
Herrick Feinstein, LLP has developed one of the premier art and
cultural property law practices in the world, handling all types of
art litigation and alternate forms of dispute resolution and
representing clients in corporate and commercial art law matters as
well.
“When I graduated from St. John’s Law in 1970, the Martindale
Hubbell Legal Directory did not have a single listing for attorneys
practicing law that focused on art and antiquities. Now there
must be six or seven pages of listings for the New York
metropolitan area alone,” explained Mr. Kaye. “The art law
field has grown exponentially over the last four decades.”
“One case early in my career put me right in the thick of this
niche law practice. After my second year of law school, I
worked as a summer associate for the firm of Botein, Hays, Sklar
and Herzberg, and I was assigned to a case that involved all of the
things that you study in law school and some that you don’t –
the statute of limitations, the German doctrine of prescription,
sovereign immunity, the act of state doctrine, state succession,
military law, etc.,” explained Mr. Kaye. One party to the
lawsuit, the Germany Democratic Republic (East Germany), where the
Museum was located, initially could not participate in the lawsuit
because the government was not officially recognized by the United
States. Among other things, the key witnesses from East
Germany had to be deposed in Austria because they could not get
visas to enter the United States. “During the window of this
one case, my career spanned that of a “Summer Associate”, Associate
and Partner, aptly demonstrating how complex and nuanced
international art cases can be”, explained Mr. Kaye. The
case, which was finally resolved in 1982, resulted in a landmark
decision known as Federal Republic of Germany v. Elicofon.
Two early masterpieces by Albrecht Durer, which were stolen at the
close of the Second World War from a German castle where they had
been placed for safekeeping by the Weimar Art Museum, ultimately
surfaced twenty years later in the hands of a NYC private
collector. The Museum (found to be an arm of the East German
government), the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) and the
Grand Duchess of Saxony - Weimar - Eisenach, all sued the collector
to recover the stolen works, the end result being that the art was
returned to the Museum.
Over the years, Mr. Kaye and his colleagues have provided
representation to a variety of public and private sector claimants
of stolen art and antiquities. In the early nineties,
Herrick’s Art Law Group helped the Turkish government secure the
return of the fabled Lydian Hoard artifacts from the Metropolitan
Museum of Art. It is believed that this was the first lawsuit
brought by a foreign government against a major American cultural
icon.
Mr. Kaye’s legal work extends beyond international entity vs.
international entity. Numerous cases have involved the heirs
of Holocaust victims. The earliest was the “Portrait of
Wally” case, in which the heirs of an Austrian art dealer, Lea
Bondi Jaray, are seeking to recover an important painting by Egon
Schiele which was looted from Bondi during the Holocaust. The
case, which began in 1997, when the painting was seized by the
Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, is now the subject of a
Federal civil forfeiture action and is about to go to trial.
Kaye and his colleagues also represent Marei von Saher, the sole
heir of the famed Dutch dealer, Jacques Goudstikker, in her efforts
to recover his vast collection, which was looted by the Nazis in
1940. Among other things, they helped the family secure the
return of 200 Old Master Paintings from the Dutch Government in
2006. “These cases can be highly emotional and are never
easy,” explained Mr. Kaye.
Herrick’s Art Law Group also represents the heirs of the noted
avant garde artist, Kazimir Malevich. Kaye’s Group recently
recovered five extraordinary paintings by Malevich held for more
than 50 years by the City of Amsterdam, the first of which Herrick
helped the heirs sell last year for $60 million, a record price for
the artist and a world record for Russian art.
A frequent lecturer, Mr. Kaye has presented papers and spoken at
academic and business symposiums around the globe, including; the
Tel Aviv Museum of Art, the All-Russia State Library for Foreign
Literature in Moscow, the United Kingdom Institute for
Conservation, the American-Turkish Council, the Institute of
International Business Law and Practice, Lloyd's of London Press,
the American Bar Association, the Association of the Bar of the
City of New York, Columbia University, Brown University, the
University of Pennsylvania, Bard College, New York University,
Princeton University, the American Institute of Archaeology, and
many law schools, including Harvard, Villanova, New York
University, Fordham, The University of Texas, Texas Tech, Rutgers,
Cardozo and Willamette. St. John’s School of Law looks
forward to a lecture by Mr. Kaye in the near future.
Mr. Kaye shares the following advice with new attorneys, “Niche
practices are unique by nature. But, in order to be a
specialist, you first must acquire strong core legal skills.
A lawyer practicing in the field of “arts and antiquities law” must
first be an expert litigator and a sophisticated transactional
lawyer and have all the components that go into being a strong
lawyer. This skill set requires dedication and effort."