Irina Tarsis, Esq., brings business and art history training to her practice of art law. She concentrates on disputes related to ownership of visual art.  Founder and Director of the Center for Art Law, she conducts provenance research and consults on art law matters such as title disputes, copyright infringement and fair use, artists’ rights, restitution, authenticity and provenance research. Ms. Tarsis is a regular speaker on resale royalty rights, due diligence in provenance research, fair use issues affecting visual arts and many other art law related topics.

• Represents artists seeking to recover their artworks consigned to NYS Galleries;
• Represents claims seeking to recover Nazi-era looted art;
• Represents art collectors and dealers in connection with due diligence and general art sales agreements;
• Litigated trusts and estates cases before the NY County Surrogate’s Court in connection with undeclared estates’ art assets.

After conducting research as an Art Law Post Graduate Fellow at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Ms. Tarsis served on the faculty of Teacher’s College of the Columbia University (Spring 2020); Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law (2012, 2017-2018) and the European Shoah Legacy Institute/Provenance Research Training Workshops in Vilnius, Lithuania (2013), Athens, Greece and Rome, Italy (2014). Her publications include articles in the Entertainment, Arts and Sports Law Journal, Cultural Heritage & Arts Review, Library and The Cultural Record, the ArtWatch UK Journal and the Institute of Art & Law’s journal, Art Antiquity and Law.

Ms. Tarsis received her J.D. from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. She earned her Masters Degree in Art History from Harvard University and her Bachelor of Science in International Business from the University of Virginia.

In 2016 and 2020, Ms. Tarsis has been recognized as a rising star and a top rated nonprofit organizations and intellectual property attorney.

ADMISSIONS

• U.S. District Court, Southern Districts of New York
• New York

SELECT SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS

• 2019 — A Responsible Art Market in Practice, RAM Conference (Geneva, Switzerland);
• 2017 — “(Dis)Claiming Pasts: Ownership, Responsibility and Contestation,” (Ghent, Belgium)
• 2017 — “It’s About Rights: Street Art and Copyright,” Copyright Society (NYC)
• 2016 — The 6th International Conference of Experts on the Return of Cultural Property (Gangnam-gu, South Korea);
• 2015 — Int’l Conference: Art, Law and Crises of Connoisseurship (London, UK);

Professional Activities

• Association of the Bar of the City of New York (Art Law Committee)
• New York State Bar Association (Executive Committee, Entertainment, Arts and Sports Section)
• New York County Lawyers’ Association ( Art Law Committee Co-Chair 2018)
• American Society of International Law (Chair of the Cultural Heritage and the Arts Interest Group 2012-2015)