On the heels of announcing the formation of the Court of Arbitration for Art (CAfA) - a new, specialized arbitration and mediation tribunal exclusively dedicated to resolving art law disputes - William Charron spoke to members of the press about how the forum is positioned to make exacting decisions on art cases that will be welcomed by the global market.

Charron, who co-chairs the Art Law practice at Pryor Cashman, explained to The Art Newspaper that CAfA was created to address the difficulty courts and juries often face when confronted with art law cases, particularly where forensic science, provenance research and connoisseurship are at issue. “Courts are reactive bodies,” he said. “They take the evidence that is presented by the parties and they do the best they can. The thinking with CAfA is, if you have art practitioners as the deciders, they’re going to be better positioned to evaluate the evidence.”

Underlying the decision to create the CAfA was a recognition that the word of the court is rarely the last word on art. As Charron told Law360, “Markets aren't required to and often don't abide by court decisions on whether a work is real or fake, since those determinations are made by lay individuals on the basis of art experts hired by either party in the dispute. The CAfA was conceived to solve that problem and ‘flatten the learning curve’ by having tribunals consisting of experienced art lawyers decide cases.” 

Proceedings through the CAfA can take place anywhere in the world and will be conducted privately, but when a case ends, arbitrators will put forth a statement explaining their decisions. Decisions will be enforceable under the New York Convention and other international conventions. Moreover, while the works of art will be identified, the names of the parties involved will not. “In the art market, people prize their anonymity, but we were also concerned with…creating a decision-making apparatus that the market is going to respect,” Charron told ArtForum.

The CAfA will officially launch on June 7, 2018 in The Hague by the nonprofit organization Authentication in Art (AiA) and the Netherlands Arbitration Institute (NAI).

Charron’s full interviews can be found in The Art Newspaper, Law360 and ArtForum.

More About Charron’s Practice

As co-chair of Pryor Cashman’s Art Law practice, William Charron represents clients on a range of matters, including authenticity, title, copyright and contract disputes. He frequently writes and speaks on issues impacting the art world, such as provenance disputes, World War II restitution cases, artist royalty rights, and procedural law issues.

In addition to conceiving and advancing the Court of Arbitration for Art (CAfA), he is an advisory board member of AiA; a founding board member of the Professional Advisors to the International Art Market (PAIAM) in New York; and a member of the New York City Bar Association’s Art Law Committee.

Learn more about his practice here.