Meet the Team
Pierre Valentin
FOUNDER
Pierre is a leading art lawyer with over 25 years experience acting on behalf of artists, galleries, auction houses, collectors, not-for-profit organisations and museums. His practice focuses on contentious and non-contentious matters of ownership, valuation of art, fraud, authenticity and provenance, foreign nation recoveries, intellectual property, and new technologies. Pierre is the founder of International Catalogue Raisonné Association (ICRA), a nonprofit members’ association, and PAIAM (Professional Advisors to the International Art Market).Other previous appointments and positions include: Senior Director and Associate General Counsel at Sotheby's; trustee of World Monuments Fund Britain; trustee of the Artist’s Collecting Society. He speaks fluent English, French, Italian, and Spanish.
Catherine Hill
FOUNDER AND DIRECTOR
Catherine heads the Art and Cultural Property team at Forsters LLP, a leading London law firm based in Mayfair where she has been a partner since 2008. She has many years' experience acting for living artists and their families, including several leading contemporary figures, on legacy, succession and taxation issues. Catherine also advises collectors, galleries and museums. She has lectured in recent years at the Royal Academy on legacy planning and on art law matters generally. She is a member of PAIAM (Professional Advisers to the International Arts Market) and the Heritage Lawyers Group. She acts as trustee and executor for many of her artist clients.
Craig Davies
DIRECTOR
Craig Davies is a chartered accountant and tax advisor. He is a Partner at Rawlinson & Hunter LLP and also heads up their Corporate Services team. Craig acts for many leading contemporary artists and galleries as well as collectors, providing business and personal tax advice, a full range of accounting services and he is also as a sounding board for them on a broad range of topics. Craig has been a Trustee at Blue Marine Foundation since 2012. He is also a member of PAIAM and for six years, until 2020, served on the board working alongside Pierre Valentin for most of this period.
Jessica Carlisle
MANAGING DIRECTOR
Jessica started her career as a lawyer, practising as a solicitor across a number of areas and consulting for a boutique media firm. She went on to work at London’s first artist agency, helping clients navigate the commercial and legal aspects of their practice, before founding her own gallery in 2014. Jessica is passionate about helping artists and her ability to straddle the art and legal worlds puts her in a unique position to know what her clients need and how best to deliver it.
Keith Graham
FOUNDER AND CONSULTANT
Keith is an experienced chartered accountant who advises individuals and businesses on tax (both UK and international) and general financial matters, as well as providing accounting and audit services. He has developed a specialism providing services to the art sector – and has a particular interest in estate planning for artists. Keith is a Trustee of Acme Studios and a member of PAIAM. He works with the Association of Women Art Dealers and is a former Trustee of the Ben Uri Gallery and Museum. He is a consultant at Haines Watts
Heidi Donohoe
ARCHIVIST AND CONSULTANT
Heidi has thirty years’ experience of working in the visual art world. A former lecturer in Fine Art, she diverted her career to work as a curator and archivist, consulting and representing artists practicing in a variety of disciplines, including music, performance, and film. As an archivist, Heidi’s expertise spans across research methodology, inventory, copyright, and cataloguing digital and physical works of art. She has worked for many significant artists and artist estates as well as a number of international galleries.
Kitty Atherton
BUSINESS ADMINISTRATOR
Kitty is an art historian who has graduated from the Courtauld Institute of Art and holds a qualification in International Cultural Heritage Law, which she attained from the University of Geneva. During her studies she co-curated London’s first intercollegiate student exhibition post-lockdown in Fitzrovia, and was a columnist for the Courtauld's academic journal. Most recently she has also taken up a part-time collaboration with Bonhams.