Payne Hicks Beach LLP

Art and Cultural Property

Till is a Partner and heads up the firm's dedicated Art and Cultural Property team. He advises international private collectors, art dealers and auction houses, galleries and museums, as well as art investors and advisors, in relation to both contentious and non-contentious matters. This includes advice on buying, selling, lending, borrowing and loaning against artworks and collectibles, as well as resolving disputes over issues such as ownership, authenticity, attribution and condition of artworks and collectibles. His practice also extends to advice on moving art and collectibles across borders and handling insurance claims.

Till has built up particular expertise in handling restitution claims to looted artworks. He has reviewed actual and potential claims, advised on, and/or successfully negotiated amicable resolutions to more than three dozen claimed artworks and collectibles.

Till regularly lectures at various Art Law forums and comments in the media on matters pertaining to Art and Cultural Property Law. Recent examples include panel discussions at Art Basel (on recent regulatory trends in the art market), at Christie’s London (on the 25th anniversary of the Washington Principles) and at the Centre Pompidou (Art Market Day), as well as lectures at the Sotheby’s Institute of Art and the Royal Academy, and interviews on the public broadcasters of Sweden and China, as well as in the Sunday Times, Daily Telegraph and Jewish Chronicle.

Prior to his career in the law, Till worked for several years as a Public Diplomacy Officer at the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in London. During that time, he worked for three German ambassadors to the Court of St. James and advised the German Foreign Office on the latest political, economic and cultural developments in the UK.

Till is a member of PAIAM (Professional Advisors to the International Art Market), ICRA (International Catalogue Raisonné Association), TIAMSA (the International Art Market Studies Association) and currently serves as an Officer on the Art, Cultural Institutions and Heritage Committee of the International Bar Association. He is a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland.