Mr. Kaye is Managing Partner of Kaye Spiegler. He is noted for his representation of foreign governments, victims of the Holocaust, families of renowned artists and other claimants in connection with the recovery of art and antiquities. He represented the Republic of Turkey in its successful efforts to recover the fabled Lydian Hoard antiquities, long held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and some 1,800 ancient Greek and Lycian coins which Connoisseur Magazine called “The Hoard of the Century,” among many other artifacts. He presently represents many museums, collectors and foreign governments in connection with a variety of cultural property matters.
Mr. Kaye served as the Legal Advisor to the Republic of Turkey’s delegation to the Diplomatic Conference held in Rome in June 1995, at which the UNIDROIT Convention on the International Return of Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects was adopted. He writes and lectures extensively on international art litigation and the repatriation of cultural property. He has presented papers at numerous academic and business symposiums, including, among others, forums sponsored by the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, the All-Russia State Library for Foreign Literature in Moscow, the United Kingdom Institute for Conservation, the American-Turkish Council, the Institute of International Business Law and Practice, Lloyd’s of London Press, the American Bar Association, the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, Columbia University, Brown University, University of Pennsylvania, Bard College, New York University, Princeton University, the American Institute of Archaeology, and many law schools, including Harvard, Villanova, Fordham, Texas Tech, Rutgers, Cardozo, Willamette and the University of Texas.
While pursuing his law degree, Mr. Kaye was editor-in-chief of the St. John’s Law Review. He has served two terms as a member of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York’s Art Law Committee and was the Program Chairman for their Cultural Property Roundtable in November 1996.
Memberships & Associations
- Association of the Bar of the City of New York
- International Bar Association
- Member, Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts (VLA)
- Board Member and Secretary, Turkish Philanthropy Funds