Megan E. Noh

Megan’s practice is uniquely holistic in its representation of members of almost every segment of the art market, and she is known for her ability to negotiate a transaction or advise on a dispute based on experience with both sides of its key issues, maintaining a commercial, results-oriented approach.

One industry source from Chambers 2025 said, “Megan has comprehensive knowledge of the art world: the people, the culture, the landscape, how it has evolved and where it is going. She loves art, law and art law." With another source noting that she is “a superstar. I could not ask for a better strategic thinker as my counsel.” Past reviewers have noted that she is “a leader around art market-related legal matters. Her deep knowledge about the industry makes her a very strong adviser,” with sources saying that she is “extremely responsive and confident, and explains things in great clarity to clients,” and that she “has been on both sides of the transactions, so she is able to understand what the stress points will be for both parties and put our best foot forward using those experiences.” Another source reports that Megan is “one of the most responsive, professional, diligent and thorough attorneys whom I've worked with in my career.”

Chambers has further noted Megan’s “dedication and passion to this space,” as exemplified by her current role as Chair of the Artists Rights Subcommittee of the New York City Bar Association’s Art Law Committee. She has also served on the boards of a variety of domestic and international professional arts organizations, and is deeply engaged with the Vera List Center for Art and Politics, a research center and public forum for social justice and art at the New School, for whom she serves as Vice Chair of the Advisory Board’s Executive Committee, and also supports a variety of initiatives specifically within the LGBTQIA+ and AAPI/API communities.

Megan’s notable work includes representation and counsel to:

• Top collectors and fiduciaries who need assistance navigating competitive proposals and negotiating consignment and private sale agreements for marquee collections of art and collectible property, typically ranging in value from $30 million to $300 million;
• Emerging and mid-career artists on market equity and control issues, including the use of resale restrictions and alignment of interests with representative galleries;
• Some of the world’s leading digital and legacy artists and digital platforms on innovative Web3 projects, including with respect to website terms of use and intellectual property issues;
• A major lender in relation to international consignments of eight-figure-value artwork collateral and perfection of security interests in same;
• World-renowned creators seeking guidance on legacy intellectual property portfolio issues (including copyright and trademark registration, renewal, assignment, and infringement issues) as well as on a wide variety of activation partnerships, brand collaborations, and licensing structures, including in connection with luxury goods;
• A major international auction house to whom Megan provides ongoing guidance with respect to various compliance and complex transactional matters, including advance loans and third-party guarantees;
• A major US museum, including on domestic and international exhibition loans and related immunity-from-seizure and title claim matters;
• Installation artists engaged in projects implicating moral rights under the Visual Artists Rights Act and state law, including negotiation of agreements striking a fair balance between artist protections and the interests of real property-holders;
• Community-based arts organizations, including without limitation The Here and There Collective (a fiscally sponsored non-profit committed to highlighting art practitioners from the Asian diaspora), providing residency and exhibition opportunities to artists and/or conducting sales of artwork for charitable causes;
• A leading scholarly non-profit organization in defending against international copyright infringement claims arising from planned public dissemination of archival materials underlying a catalogue raisonné project, as well as assistance with submission and collaboration agreements for new catalogue raisonné projects;
• A public figure and outspoken advocate against so-called “conversion therapy” (i.e., courses of therapeutic conduct designed to change an individual’s sexual orientation or gender expression) in submission of an Amicus Curiae brief to the Supreme Court of the United States seeking to uphold Colorado’s statutory prohibition on licensed therapists’ practice of such techniques in the treatment of minors;
• Renowned time-based media artist Kevin McCoy in the defense of a claim alleging ownership of the “World’s First NFT,” achieving complete dismissal of claims that sought to “lay claim to the profits of a legitimate artist and creator”;
• Online auction platform Paddle8 in the marshalling and distribution of assets to creditors, in her role as Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Trustee; and
• A prominent European collector and aligned sales representatives, in obtaining dismissal with prejudice of copyright infringement and moral rights claims brought by contemporary artist Cady Noland in connection with a sculpture known as “Log Cabin Façade.”

Megan has served as a faculty member at Columbia Law School, and lectures regularly for professional and academic audiences, including past engagements for the Appraisers Association of America’s “Art Law Day,” the International Society of Appraisers, and as part of an expert roundtable hosted by the US Copyright Office. Her scholarship on issues such as authentication liability, VARA’s application to conceptual artworks, and copyright issues arising in the context of NFTs and artificial intelligence-assisted visual artworks has been published in academic and critical journals and such as the IAL Journal of Art Antiquity & Law, the Columbia Journal of Law and the Arts, and the Brooklyn Rail. In addition, Megan’s commentary on legal developments impacting the art market has been featured in The New York Times, Financial Times, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, New York Law Journal, Bloomberg Law, Law360, The Art Newspaper, artnet, and other industry publications.