Tim Maxwell

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Tim Maxwell

Partner Art & Luxury Law

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About Tim

Expertise Down arrow

Tim Maxwell is Head of the Art & Luxury team and is widely recognised as one of the UK’s top art lawyers and art litigators. He combines substantial commercial litigation and private wealth experience with a pre-eminent practice dedicated to art law, cultural property law and luxury asset disputes. He is separately recognised by major legal directories for intellectual property and fraud.

Tim trained and qualified as a commercial litigator and has since acted in many of the leading cases shaping the law in the art market and cultural property sector. He is frequently instructed in disputes involving items and collections of national and international significance.

Tim advises clients across the international art market on complex and high-value litigation, arbitration, restitution claims and ownership disputes involving works of art, cultural property and heritage assets. He is regularly instructed by artists, collectors, museums, galleries, auction houses, family offices, insurers, sovereign governments and ultra-high-net-worth individuals.

His practice includes provenance, attribution and authenticity disputes, fraud and forged artworks, restitution claims, artists’ rights, auction house disputes, cultural property and heritage matters, and litigation involving luxury assets including collector cars, watches, wine and yachts.

Experience Down arrow

  • Ownership and restitution claims involving exceptional works of art, cultural property, heritage assets, archaeological objects and treasure recovered from land and shipwrecks. Including acting for both, heirs seeking recovery, and innocent current possessors defending title claims.
  • Art market fraud disputes involving dealers, intermediaries and art advisers, including cases concerning secrecy, provenance and misconduct in the art market, such as Hickox v Dickinson.
  • Several of the leading English court decisions involving auction houses, including Thwaytes v Sotheby’s and Dickson v Christie’s.
  • Artists’ rights, brand disputes, commissions, public artwork and intellectual property and litigation including the landmark Artist Resale Rights case DACS & ACS v I Braka Ltd and the only reported English case concerning ownership of street art, Creative Foundation v Dreamland Leisure Ltd & Ors.
  • Confidential advisory projects for major institutions and government bodies in the Middle East.
  • High-value disputes and advisory matters involving internationally renowned collector cars, luxury assets and collectables.

Publications Down arrow

Tim is a recognised thought leader in art law, art market disputes and cultural property law. His publications and contributions include:

  • Contributor to Sale of Goods, Volume 34 of the Encyclopaedia of Forms & Precedents.
  • Author of Ownership of Street Art, Art Antiquity & Law, Volume 21, Issue 1.
  • Contributor to Apollo, New Law Journal, Law Society Gazette and STEP Journal.
  • Regular commentator for the Art Newspaper, Antiques Trade Gazette and other specialist art market publications.
  • Frequently quoted by national newspapers and major media outlets on art law, restitution, cultural property and luxury asset disputes.
  • Featured in The Lawyer’s Top 15 Appeals.
  • Former Times Lawyer of the Week.
  • Profiled in My Legal Life by the Law Society Gazette.
  • Chambers HNW Art Law Team of the Year 2024 and 2026.

Endorsements Down arrow

Recognition & Professional Standing

Tim is regularly invited to speak on art law, cultural property law and art market disputes and has guest lectured at:

  • University of Zurich
  • University of Glasgow
  • Goldsmiths, University of London
  • Christie’s Education
  • Sotheby’s Institute of Art
  • Courtauld Art Law Society
  • Institute of Art & Law
  • International conferences throughout Europe, the US and the Middle East

Professional Memberships

  • IBA Art, Cultural Institutions & Heritage Law Committee
  • Court of Arbitration for Art – Pool of Arbitrators
  • Register of Arbitrators, Venice Chamber of Arbitration
  • Art Lawyers Association
  • Institute of Art & Law
  • PAIAM

Testimonials

  • Tim Maxwell is an excellent, practical and measured lawyer. He has a clear depth of industry knowledge, he's unflappable and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend or work with him again.

    Chambers High Net Worth Guide, 2026

  • Timothy Maxwell brings an efficient and highly disciplined approach to every matter. His market insight allows him to frame issues in a commercially grounded way, and his strong network makes him notably connected in the right circles. He operates with discretion, clarity, and a consistent ability to move matters forward quickly and efficiently.

    Chambers High Net Worth Guide, 2026

  • Tim Maxwell is the most experienced art litigator in the market and the go-to person.

    Chambers High Net Worth Guide, 2026

  • "Timothy Maxwell is a very experienced top negotiator and has been instrumental at guiding our strategy throughout this complex case. He is a brilliant strategist and has the answers to every problem."

    Chambers High Net Worth Guide, 2026

  • Tim Maxwell is a superb solicitor with expertise handling disputes.

    Legal 500 2026

  • Tim’s experience as legal counsel in the art world was invaluable. He was highly professional and made the correct decisions about the direction in which we would be the most successful.

    Chamber UK, 2025

  • Tim Maxwell and his team are experts in their field. For art-related work, we need very specialist legal advice and this is what Tim offers. He is responsive, measured and commercial. It is a pleasure to work with him.

    The Legal 500, 2025

  • It's now one of the largest art practices in London, so their knowledge is current. Rudy Capildeo and Tim Maxwell are delightful and a pleasure to work with.

    The Legal 500, 2025

  • For many years now I have worked with Tim Maxwell and Rudy Capildeo. I am deeply impressed by their vertical and horizontal knowledge in the arts and cultural sector.

    The Legal 500, 2025

  • Tim is highly professional and highly astute. He thinks of all the things no one else in the room has thought of, which gives clients a great amount of confidence

    Chambers, High Net Worth 2024

  • Tim's grasp of intellectual property is second to none. He is brilliant and incredibly shrewd. There was no question that we were in safe hands

    Chambers, High Net Worth 2024

  • Tim is a really good litigator. He knows the art market well, so he understands its specific sensitivities. He is never fazed by anything and is great at disputes.

    Chambers, High Net Worth 2023

  • He is the real deal. There's not much in art and cultural property he doesn't know about. Tim is a star and he really knows his stuff. He is the person I would recommend for anyone in art.

    Chambers, High Net Worth 2023

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