Amineddoleh & Associates LLC is pleased to celebrate its first anniversary. The litigation and transactional boutique law firm is recognized for its work in the areas of art, cultural heritage, and intellectual property law.

Since our inception, we have been involved in numerous high-profile matters. The law firm’s founder Leila Amineddoleh served as a consultant to the Brooklyn United States Attorney’s Office in the civil case brought against Hobby Lobby (information about the case is available here and here), and likewise serves as a cultural heritage law expert to the New York District Attorney’s Office for antiquities investigations. In that role, she was involved in the repatriation of looted antiquities from Italy and the recent seizure of an ancient Lebanese bull’s head to Lebanon from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Amineddoleh also worked as a legal expert consultant for foreign governments in Europe and Asia on repatriation issues.

Amineddoleh & Associates serves the needs of private clients in a number of areas as well. The firm’s first year has been very active with a host of high-stakes art and intellectual property matters, including the following:

• Selling art and collectibles (including military items and rare books) around the globe;
• Serving as legal counsel for a leading international artist concerning his installation at the Smithsonian Institution;
• Demanding restitution of a stolen multi-million dollar collectible now housed in a private European collection;
• Protecting the art and IP of well-known artists, such as Samuel Amoia and Lynx Alexander;
• Recovering artwork for an artist after her sculpture was unlawfully withheld by a gallery;
• Assisting international art dealers and collectors sell works within the US;
• Presenting works for sale to artists’ foundation after performing due diligence and authentication;
• Working with artists’ foundations for licensing and intellectual property permissions;
• Advising on fair use issues for visual artists;
• Providing legal counsel to entertainment marketing agencies, such as The Syndicate;
• Drafting agreements in furtherance of the release of films, such as “Thirst Street;”
• Seeking funding for film projects;
• Demanding rescissions from auction houses for the sales of forged works;
• Representing a nationally acclaimed magician to protect his intellectual property;
• Establishing non-profit organizations and corporate entities;
• Prosecuting trademarks, filing cease and desist demands, and developing intellectual portfolios;
• Drafting contracts for authors, artists, and videogame designers;
• Representing collectors before cultural ministries to receive permission for international sales.

Besides work for our valued clients, Amineddoleh & Associates has been actively weighing in on art and heritage issues in national and international dialogues. We’ve discussed art and heritage issues in numerous publications, including Live Science, Time Magazine, NY Times, Bloomberg News, and iNews. Our founder Ms. Amineddoleh appeared on two nationally aired radio shows, Knowledge@Wharton and WNPR, and she spoke at numerous conferences and presented guest lectures across the country.

Ms. Brennan assisted in co-teaching a course on antiquities at Sotheby’s Institute of Art. She is actively researching current international and federal legislation controlling cultural property, as well as conducting legal research into artists’ estates and foundations. We’ve been published extensively in sources such as Artsy and Artnet, and Ms. Brennan served as the research assistant for Maxwell L. Anderson’s book Antiquities: What Everyone Needs to Know.

The attorneys at Amineddoleh & Associates are pleased to work in the arts in other capacities. Ms. Brennan is a graphic designer and illustrator in her spare time. Ms. Amineddoleh performs classical piano music, and she curated an art crime exhibition at New York University. Michael Rose is a talented painter. We are proud to actively support the arts, as members of arts organizations, such as Lincoln Center Young Patrons, Young Patrons’ of the Hispanic Society of America, and Young Friends of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

We look forward to another exciting year ahead. In November, Ms. Amineddoleh will be organizing and speaking at a program on art collecting and due diligence for Harvard Business School at the Harvard Club in New York City. In February, she will be leading a lecture at the Philadelphia Museum of Art on the history of art collecting. We are proud to contribute to the Antiquities Coalition in a forthcoming policy piece for the group. In the fall, please look for our contribution to a forthcoming book from Bloomsbury Press, Nazi Law: From Nuremberg to Nuremberg.

For more information on the firm’s practice please visit www.artandiplawfirm.com.