Entertainment Arts and Sports Law Section 2011 Annual Meeting Program

2011 Annual Meeting Program – Video Webcast Archive

4.0 MCLE Credits
4.0 credits in areas of professional practice 

Part I.  Nazi-Era Art Restitution: Recent Case Developments

This program will address recent cases brought by heirs of Holocaust victims concerning the ownership of artworks claimed to have been looted or sold under duress during the Nazi era. When the art resurfaced – often decades later – in the hands of museums, collectors, galleries and auction houses, ownership disputes have raised complex procedural, substantive, and policy issues. This panel includes lawyers representing both sides of several high-profile cases, including the eleven-year battle which resulted in a $19 million settlement with the Leopold Museum in Vienna in the Egon Schiele - Portrait of Wally case and the seven-year battle with the Republic of Austria, which resulted in the restitution to the family of Holocaust victims of a number of important works by Gustav Klimt, valued, in the aggregate, in excess of $300 million. The esteemed panelists will also discuss cases involving the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, and descendants of families who are laying claim to works by Picasso, Pissarro, Schiele, Kokoschka, Klimt, and Lucas Cranach the Elder.

Moderator: 
Judith A. Bresler, Esq., Counsel, Withers Bergman LLP, New York City

Panelists:
Donald S. Burris, Esq., Partner, Burris, Schoenberg & Walden, LLP, Los Angeles, CA
Raymond J. Dowd, Esq., Partner, Dunnington, Bartholow & Miller LLP, New York City
Simon J. Frankel, Esq., Partner, Covington & Burling LLP, San Francisco, CA
Lucian Simmons, Solicitor, Senior Vice President, Worldwide Head Restitution Department, Sotheby’s, Inc., New York City
Howard N. Spiegler, Esq., Partner, Herrick, Feinstein LLP, New York City

Part II.  Whose Life is it Anyway? – Life Stories in Media

This segment will focus on legal transactional issues and recent cases that deal with the depiction of life stories of real people as portrayed in entertainment media, including film, television, theater, books and social media. A panel of distinguished legal experts will include an attorney who was depicted on the screen by Russell Crowe in the film “American Gangster,” as well as litigation and corporate counsel for some of the most pre-eminent names and events in literary, political and popular culture. Defamation, Lanham Act, First Amendment, rights of privacy and publicity, trademark, copyright and other related areas will be discussed with respect to their relevance to this topic.

Moderator:
Stephen B. Rodner, Esq., Partner, Pryor Cashman LLP, New York City

Panelists:
Tom J. Ferber, Esq., Partner, Pryor Cashman LLP, New York City
Robert C. Harris, Esq., Partner, Lazarus & Harris LLP, New York City
Richard M. Roberts, Esq., Law Office of Richard Roberts, Newark, NJ
Eric Zohn, Esq., William Morris Agency Inc., New York City
 

This program was recorded on January 27, 2011 at the New York State Bar Association Annual Meeting.

This archived webcast is a video online program that you will view and listen to on your computer screen. The program code for each topic that you write on the included MCLE Form only appears on the screen and is not announced by audio.