Serving the Legal Needs of the Art and Business Communities

Offering Legal Advice for Your Art Law Concerns

Practice Areas

General

A firm of experienced lawyers, Gale P. Elston P.C. is as diverse as we are knowledgeable. Since the firm’s founding in 1988, Gale P. Elston P.C. has accepted that the best way to help our clients’ unique legal challenges is for us to understand our clients’ business and industry. The combined experience of all associates and attorneys is over 100 years. Read on to learn more about our practice areas, and call us today. Your case is important to us.

Fine Art

The practice of Art Law is very broad. It includes enforcing artists' intellectual property rights, drafting leases for galleries, negotiating contracts for the sale or transfer of works, litigating sales disputes, establishing and managing family Trusts comprised of art assets, and drafting Wills specific to the needs of artists and collectors. Our office specializes not only in the legal expertise required to advise artists, collectors, and galleries but has also acquired an understanding of the unique dynamics of the art world.

Intellectual Property

Here at the Elston Law Studio, we focus on intellectual property rights which affect artists, collectors, and galleries. We specialize in advising clients on how best to protect and enforce Copyright and Trademark rights. We also defend artists' fair uses of existing Intellectual Property.

Litigation

When disputes arise which cannot be easily resolved by the parties, our office is well equipped to make use of the Courts. We represent clients both in Federal and State Court proceedings as well as alternative dispute resolution forums in matters including sales disputes, infringement of Intellectual Property Rights, and Real Estate matters.

Pavia vs. de Kooning
Index # 24352-90 Supreme Court NY

Real Estate

Our attorneys have many years negotiating leases, advising on real estate closings, petitioning for tax assessment reductions, and preparation of Cooperative and Condominium conversions.

Trusts and Estates

The preservation of artwork is a paramount concern for many artists and collectors. Our attorneys advise clients on how best to protect artwork for years to come. We offer advice and management services relating to wills, trusts, foundations, and not-for-profit corporations.

Non-profit Activities

Firm principal Gale Elston has devoted many hours of her 30 years of practice to pro-bono work for artists including being a founding board member of alternative non-profit art space Whitebox, NYC, serving as a Trustee of the Marin Headlands Artist-In Residency program; founding and operating non-profit artistin residency program Re-Create; training interns for the Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts, served as a board member of Faith Ringgold's foundation, the Anyone Can Fly Foundation; as well as serving as a board member of the Friends of the European Graduate School and as a member of the Robert D. Bielecki foundation, which supports musicians and composers.

Gale Elston with Senegalese colleague Bara Diokhane and artist Faith Ringgold