Azmina Jasani

Azmina is a member of the Firm’s Art and Cultural Property Law Group and based in our London office.  She is dual qualified to practice law in New York and England and is ranked as a leading lawyer in the area of Art and Cultural Property Law.

Chambers and Partners ranked Azmina as an “Associate to Watch”, describing her as someone who “goes above her duty to make sure that the client is happy and understands all angles of the topic at hand” and who is “enthusias[tic]” about “being a lawyer and the field she works in”, while Legal 500 ranked Azmina as a “Next Generation Lawyer”, describing her as being “meticulous”, “client-oriented” and “well versed in both UK and US laws”.

Azmina acts for international collectors, large and small galleries, auction houses, professional advisers, dealers and financial institutions on contentious and non-contentious matters.

On the contentious side, Azmina represents clients in disputes involving claims of authenticity, title, looted or illegally exported cultural property (including Nazi-looted property), copyright infringement, and general contract and complex commercial disputes, including disputes between artists and galleries.

On the non-contentious side, Azmina advises clients on the sale and purchase of important works of art bought and sold privately or at auction, on consigning works to auction houses and galleries, on auction guarantees, on using art as collateral for loans, on loaning artworks to museums or special exhibitions, on copyright and other intellectual property rights, and on operating an e-commerce business, particularly online-only auctions.

Azmina also helps art businesses comply with various regulations, including import and export, data protection, bribery and introductory commissions and anti-money laundering.

Prior to joining Constantine Cannon, Azmina spent four years as an associate in the New York office of Withers Bergman LLP, where her primary focus was art litigation.  While at Withers, Azmina successfully litigated a seminal case in the area of copyright infringement and the fair use defense in the United States, Cariou-v-Prince, Gagosian Gallery and Gagosian.  She also spent two years as an associate in the New York Office of Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP, where she advocated on behalf of corporate and hedge fund clients on matters relating to securities fraud and contractual disputes.

Azmina received her J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall), and her B.A., summa cum laude, from Queens College, City University of New York.

Azmina regularly publishes articles on http://www.artatlaw.com/.

Significant Representations

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

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

Successfully represented a private collector recoup his monies in an authenticity dispute with an auction house in relation to a work of art valued at approximately USD $5,000,000.

Acting for high end art collectors and international art galleries in the acquisitions and sale of art – in 2017 and 2018 the total value transacted was in excess of £200 million.

Cariou-v-Prince, Gagosian Gallery and Gagosian: Successfully defended Gagosian Gallery and Lawrence Gagosian 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 secondary works at issue were protected as fair use, saving them from destruction under an injunction imposed by the lower court, and protecting the Gallery from claims of copyright infringement as well as a claim of vicarious and contributory infringement in relation to those works.

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

Safflane Holdings Ltd. et al.-v-Gagosian Gallery, Inc.: Represented Gagosian Gallery in connection with a commercial dispute that arose as a result of Charles Cowles improper sale of a painting entitled “Innocent Eye Test” by Mark Tansey, which partially belonged to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Facilitated a complex settlement whereby all parties involved were made whole, and the painting was returned to the Met.