Azmina Jasani

Azmina is a partner in the Art & Cultural Property Law Group practice

Azmina Jasani is a dual qualified lawyer in England and New York with nearly a decade’s experience representing clients in the art and luxury sector.  As a leading art law and luxury assets specialist, Azmina advises artists, private and corporate collectors, galleries and dealers, luxury businesses, auction houses, financial institutions and museums on contentious and non-contentious matters.

Azmina is consistently ranked as a leader by both Chambers and Partners and Legal 500 in their High Net Worth and Art and Cultural Property Law categories.  In those rankings, clients have said the following about Azmina: “[Azmina] is dual-qualified, so can provide some very beneficial and pragmatic guidance to clients on international issues, especially in relation to transatlantic issues”, “she is extremely helpful and her advice and documentation is very clear”, “she is precise, clear-thinking and has a sharp mind”, “she is meticulous, client-oriented and well versed in both UK and US laws” and “[Azmina] is easy and straightforward to deal with as well as diligent and effective.”

On the non-contentious side, Azmina advises clients on the sale and purchase of important works of art and luxury goods, including fine wine, cars and jewellery, bought and sold privately or at auction, on consigning art and luxury goods to auction houses and galleries, on auction guarantees, on using art and luxury assets 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.

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

Azmina also helps art and luxury assets businesses comply with relevant regulations pertaining to import and export, data protection, bribery, introductory commissions and anti-money laundering.

Azmina periodically lectures at the Institute of Art & Law, to students on the Art, Business and Law Masters Programme at Queen Mary University of London Law School, at Sotheby’s Institute of Art (New York) and the Courtauld Institute of Art.

Prior to joining Constantine Cannon, Azmina worked in the New York office of Withers, specialising in art law and focusing primarily on 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.

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 Constantine Cannon’s Art@Law blog.

Significant Representations

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

Successfully advising a British antiquities dealership defend a criminal claim brought against it for allegedly dealing in looted cultural property.

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.

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

Advised a collector in relation to a loan of an important artwork relating to a traveling exhibition in museum in the UK and the US.

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

Successfully represented a private collector recoup USD $5,000,000, namely the purchase he paid for an artwork, in an authenticity dispute with an auction house.

Negotiated a €9m deal in relation to the 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 on exhibition at a museum and on import and transport of the works from China to Europe.

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.

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 Museum.