Mona Yapova is a specialist in Art Law at Mishcon de Reya. Her practice spans advice on issues relating to the creation of art, the art market, and heritage protection. As a lawyer, art historian, and former artist, she has a natural ability to navigate both the legal and cultural angles of projects, transactions, and disputes alongside clients. She regularly advises on complex intellectual property disputes, structuring transactions from international loans to acquisitions and art commissions, disputes relating to title, attribution, and authenticity, international investigations and reputation protection, amongst others. The breadth of clients Mona advises include artists, artists' estates, collectors, galleries, art foundations, museums, government entities, and non-profit organisations.
Before joining Mishcon de Reya, Mona worked for the art law teams of two American litigation boutiques. She has also worked at Phillips Auctioneers, the Guggenheim Museum in Venice, and the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg. Mona has a dual background in English and French law and speaks fluent French. She is a published author and has been a guest lecturer at the Royal Academy Schools, the London School of Economics, King's College London, the Courtauld Institute of Art, and the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. She is a founding member of the committee of the Art Lawyers Association, a member of PAIAM, and a member of the International Catalogue Raisonné Association.
Key Experience
- Drafting representation agreements for emerging and high-profile artists
- Advising both galleries and artists on intellectual property disputes, including in relation to appropriation art
- Structuring a donation of several hundred works by a collector to leading museums in the UK, US, and Europe
- Advising clients in authenticity disputes including both cases of fraudulent forgery and disavowal of work by artists
- Structuring commission agreements for complex works including large scale site-specific works, installations, and conceptual works
- Advising artists, galleries, and auction houses in contractual disputes, including disputes relating to contractual resale restrictions
- Advising a fine jewellery brand in an intellectual property dispute
- Structuring both primary and secondary market sales of art
- Advising an artist's estate on the unauthorised posthumous production and sale of editions of the artist's work
- Advising clients on title disputes including both cases of theft and misappropriation
Career History
Associate, Mishcon de Reya LLP
Associate, Boies Schiller Flexner LLP
Associate, Constantine Cannon LLP
Courtauld Institute of Art, Postgraduate Diploma in Art History, focus: 15th Century Persian Arts and Cold War Art History
King’s College London, Dual qualifying law degree in English Law and French Law (LLB)
Sorbonne University, Licence en Droit (French LLB equivalent) & Master I in English Law and French Law
Articles and Publications
- Co-Editor in Chief, Getting the Deal Through - Art Law in the United Kingdom - England & Wales (Lexology, 2021, 2022, 2023 editions)
- Contributing author, The Art Law Review – Recent Developments in the Art Market (The Law Reviews, 2021, 2022, 2023 editions)