Los Angeles, CA.) Nixon Peabody Complex Commercial Disputes partner Thaddeus Stauber has been selected by the Los Angeles Business Journal as one of the region’s 2021 “Leaders of Influence—Litigators & Trial Attorneys,” recognizing the most influential litigation leaders in the greater Los Angeles area.
Thaddeus leads Nixon Peabody’s Arts and Cultural Institutions team, advising the world’s leading cultural institutions, foreign sovereigns, international art collectors, dealers, artists, universities, foundations, estates, and individuals in all aspects of art law. He and his team have successfully represented clients in trials and proceedings throughout the U.S. and arbitral bodies worldwide, including controversies spanning the U.S., Europe, Asia, and Latin America. He has personally argued cases in six different federal circuits (DC, Second, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Ninth), along with numerous state courts including New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles.
Most recently, Thaddeus led the legal team for the University of Oklahoma and the University of Oklahoma Foundation, Inc. (OU Foundation) in the successful defense of a 2016 art-sharing agreement in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, and a French court. This internationally lauded settlement regarding the Camille Pissarro painting, Shepherdess Bringing in Sheep (1886), established a model for how to fairly and justly settle modern day art restitution cases.
During the shift to remote proceedings precipitated by COVID-19, Thaddeus also conducted oral arguments before the Ninth Circuit entirely by Zoom to secure a victory for the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection Foundation (Thyssen-Bornemisza). The Ninth Circuit unanimously confirmed Thyssen-Bornemisza’s ownership of Rue Saint-Honoré, Aprés-midi, Effet de pluie (1897), another important artwork by Camille Pissarro. The appellate win followed a precedent-setting bench trial decision Thaddeus secured for the client in the Central District of California in 2019.
Thaddeus also works with galleries, museums, artists, major collectors, and dealers in significant art and cultural property transactions, consignments, and commissions. He and Nixon Peabody’s Arts and Cultural Institutions team work at the forefront of the rapid global rise of contemporary art and the merging of art, fashion, media, and finance. The team also helps artist and gallery clients as they expand and enter global markets with cross-border transactions.
