The rapid globalization of the art industry in the past few decades, along with several boom and bust cycles, has made art lawyers and fiduciaries not just relevant but essential—especially in high-stakes transactions and estate matters involving high-net-worth individuals buying and selling art across borders. Art law, in particular, offers the critical regulatory framework and practical toolkit for an industry that, for too long, ran on instinct, handshakes and loosely defined ethical codes—especially on the advisory and intermediary side, where regulation is still more of a dealer association suggestion than an enforceable formal standard.
But when the market tightens, the cracks begin to show. Lured by the prospect of a casual quarter-million-dollar commission, new, inexperienced advisors enter the fray without a firm grasp of global tax and business rules and the financial literacy required to responsibly manage vast sums on behalf of clients. In just the past few years, multiple scandals have landed dealers and advisors behind bars for defrauding wealthy clients—Inigo Philbrick and Lisa Schiff among them. More recently, the legal battle between Spear’s “Outstanding Art Advisor” Barbara Guggenheim and her longtime partner Abigail Asher—whose client list included heirs, financiers, mega corporations like Coca-Cola and Hollywood royalty like Steven Spielberg, Sylvester Stallone and Tom Cruise—offered yet another glimpse into the murky waters of art advisory. After nearly 37 years in business together, each is accusing the other of fraud, exploitation and profoundly unethical conduct, including abusive behavior, psychological manipulation and sexual coercion. Guggenheim filed a suit alleging Asher siphoned off more than $20 million in company revenue through commissions and side payments; Asher countered with claims that Guggenheim pressured her to use sex as a business tactic, encouraging her to dress provocatively and sleep with clients to close deals.
Art advising continues to be a business built on personal relationships versus legal infrastructure—perhaps because it demands compromise, rewards vanity and tolerates a certain degree of well-dressed deceit. But that kind of late-20th-century era approach to business only works when the money is flowing. When the flow dries up—when risk-averse buyers tighten the purse strings—charm and charisma must give way to true expertise.
At the end of a busy auction season, industry veteran and former Sotheby’s chairman Mari-Claudia Jiménez made headlines when she joined global law firm Withers, bringing her art law credentials and broader advisory experience into the firm’s multisector legal structure. More than just an interesting industry move, it felt like a direct response to growing demand from high-net-worth clients looking for top-tier, conflict-free advice delivered via multi-service, self-regulating entities operating above board.
“There are very few formal rules governing how advisors operate,” Jiménez tells Observer as we discuss her move from Sotheby’s to Withers in light of broader industry shifts and recent shocks. “There’s not much transparency around how they conduct business—who they’re really working for, who’s paying them or where their allegiances lie. That lack of clarity is becoming increasingly problematic.”
Jiménez should know, given her top-level experience working at the intersection of the art market and art law. Before joining Sotheby’s—where she rose through the ranks to become head of global business development, president of the Americas and ultimately chairman—she was a respected art lawyer and a partner in the Art Law Group at Herrick, Feinstein LLP.
The benefits of multidisciplinary expertise
The Withers approach was “born from something very specific: the combination of these two experiences,” she explains. During her time at Sotheby’s, she was the only person in the aforementioned roles with her background. On the other side of the table, few—if any—can match that arc: nearly a decade at the executive level of a major auction house, followed by a return to legal and advisory practice. “There are great lawyers in the art world, and there are seasoned former auction house executives now working as advisors. But the blend of both—that’s what’s truly rare and can’t be easily replicated.”
At Sotheby’s, Jiménez played an integral role in some of the most high-profile sales of recent years, including the collection of legendary philanthropist and art patron Emily Fisher Landau, the $922 million Macklowe Collection, the estate of music producer Mo Ostin, and celebrity collections such as those of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Sinatra, Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman, and Nobel Prize–winning Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez. In February 2025, she left the auction house to launch her own legal and art advisory practice, which has since been integrated into Withers.
“What’s unique about this model is that, as a lawyer, I operate under a very different set of standards. Legal professionals have clearly defined duties to their clients. Confidentiality is non-negotiable, and there are rigorous internal checks,” she says, adding that before taking on a client, she must run a firm-wide check to ensure there’s no existing or potential conflicts of interest. “Those safeguards create a structure and a level of accountability that’s largely missing in the broader art advisory landscape.”
Her legal training and practice as an art lawyer come into play in every aspect of her advisory work. “I’m not just thinking about strategy and market positioning—I’m also assessing legal risks, negotiating with risk mitigation in mind. There’s a constant interplay between those two skill sets,” she explains.
In her legal career, Jiménez was involved in some of the most headline-grabbing deals in the art world. She represented the buyer in the sale of Gustav Klimt’s Adele Bloch-Bauer I to the Neue Galerie—then the most expensive painting ever sold. She also oversaw the restitution and sale of five Kazimir Malevich masterpieces, collectively worth hundreds of millions, navigating both private transactions and auctions in one of the most legally and politically complex artist markets, rife with forgery concerns and complications tied to trade with Russia. In 2017, Jiménez also played a key role in the sale of Picasso’s Nude, Green Leaves and Bust—at the time the most expensive painting ever sold at auction—part of the $300 million estate of Frances Lasker Brody.
