Petra Warrington

Petra has focused her legal practice on the art and luxury markets for over a decade. She advises clients ranging from artists, collectors, family offices and fiduciaries to galleries, auction houses, institutions and government entities. Her work is often complex and international in nature and draws on an extensive understanding of the legal and commercial issues relating to art, cultural property, collectables and luxury assets.

She is recognised for her contentious, non-contentious and advisory work. She assists clients in a wide variety of matters, including high-value acquisitions, loans, asset-backed financing, collection management, artists’ rights, restitution and issues of ownership, authenticity and due diligence.

Petra draws on her practical experience of the art market, having held roles in museums, galleries and auction houses in the United States and London, and a long-standing academic interest in art and cultural property, pursued through her studies in History of Art and Art and Cultural Heritage Law.

• Acting for collectors in claims to ownership of artworks and cultural property and in buying, selling and lending art and luxury assets.
• Advising auction houses on issues of authenticity, misattribution, title, payment, insurance and copyright.
• Acting for galleries and dealers in negotiating consignment agreements, commission arrangements and sales of artworks, classic cars and other luxury assets.
• Advising artists in negotiating gallery representation agreements, protecting their intellectual property and resolving disputes when they arise.
• Advising claimants, collectors and institutions in relation to the restitution of art and cultural property.

• Petra has contributed to art law journals and publications, including Art Antiquity and Law, the IBA’s Art law: restrictions on the export of cultural property and artwork and The Art Law Review. She regularly comments in the press on current art law issues.
• Petra has guest lectured at Christie’s Education, the London School of Economics and Political Science, Queen Mary’s Centre for Commercial Law Studies and the Institute of Art and Law.

Petra is an accredited mediator and member of Art Resolve, the art claims dispute resolution service. She is currently senior vice chair of the International Bar Association’s Art, Cultural Institutions and Heritage Law Committee and a member of various art market-focused associations, including Association of Women in the Arts (AWITA), Professional Advisors to the International Art Market (PAIAM) and the Institute of Art and Law (IAL).