Azmina Jasani

Azmina Jasani is a Partner in the Art & Cultural Property Law Group and a leading art law and luxury assets specialist.  She is valued by her clients for her “effective”, “diligent” and “straightforward” style and for her dual qualifications and experience in New York and London, which they deem “a real asset”.  Chambers & Partners 2019-20 & 2020-21.

Azmina is sought-after by the full spectrum of industry stakeholders, including artists, museums, collectors, sovereigns, galleries, dealers, auction houses and financial institutions on contentious and non-contentious matters around the globe.

She represents clients on a variety of matters, including disputes involving issues of authenticity, provenance, title and copyright as well as disputes relating to artist-gallery relations and looted or illegally exported cultural property.

Azmina routinely negotiates the sale and purchase of important artworks bought and sold privately or at auction, high-value consignment agreements, auction guarantee agreements, art finance agreements and art loan agreements for special exhibitions held at museums and galleries.

She is also often instructed by art and luxury businesses to help them comply with regulations pertaining to anti-money laundering, consumer protection, import and export, data protection, bribery and introductory commissions.

As a dual qualified lawyer with over a decade’s experience, Azmina is well-placed to provide a single source of advice for clients who require assistance in more than one jurisdiction.

Azmina’s clients describe her as “a powerhouse”, “fantastic to work with” and someone who is “precise, clear-thinking and has a sharp mind”.  Competitors describe Azmina as “a formidable counsellor, a zealous advocate for her client, and a pleasure to work with from the perspective of opposing counsel, which is a rare combination.”  Chambers & Partners 2019-20 & 2020-21.

Azmina lectures at the Institute of Art & Law, Queen Mary School of Law, Sotheby’s Institute of Art and the Courtauld Institute of Art.

She received her Juris Doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law and her B.A., summa cum laude, from Queens College, City University of New York.

Significant Representations

Advising a top-end international dealer on securing a billion-dollar consignment of an important collection belonging to a prominent political family.

Advising Epiris LLP in relation to its acquisition of Bonhams, an international auction house.

Successfully defended a British antiquities dealership and its director against a criminal claim asserted by a European state of dealing in looted cultural property.

Negotiated several high-value consignment and auction guarantee agreements with Christie’s and Sotheby’s, including the consignment of a painting by Picasso worth in excess of $100 million and an important painting by Kandinsky.

Advising an international art dealership on a Holocaust looted claim in connection with an Old Masters painting.

Negotiated a multimillion-dollar deal in relation to the traveling exhibition and purchase of a significant collection of works by artist Ai Weiwei. Advised on complex insurance issues involving the works of art, some of which were yet to be created, while others were being loaned to a museum and on import and transport of the works from China to Europe.

Advised a collector in connection with a loan of an important piece of cultural property for a traveling exhibition in UK and US.

Successfully defended artist Claes Oldenburg against a frivolous claim of copyright infringement.

Successfully represented a private collector to recoup the full purchase price of $5 million for an artwork plus legal fees in an authenticity dispute with an auction house.

Cariou-v-Prince, Gagosian Gallery and Gagosian: Successfully advocated on behalf of the defendants in a landmark U.S. copyright infringement action relating to the question of fair use.  Helped persuade the United States Court of Appeals of the Second Circuit that 25 of the 30 artworks at issue were protected as fair use, saving them from destruction under an injunction imposed by the lower court.

Represented Acker, a fine and rare wine merchant since 1820, defend a claim relating to counterfeit wines alleged by Bill Koch.

Successfully assisted Marlborough Gallery in estopping a fine art auction house from selling an inauthentic work of art that was wrongly attributed to the artist Claudio Bravo, whose estate is represented by the Gallery.