Admissions & Appointments
Admitted as a Solicitor in England & Wales, 1989
Memberships
Executive Committee, British Art Market Federation (BAMF)
Governing Committee, The Society of Fine Art Auctioneers and Valuers (SOFAA)
Member, Professional Advisors to the International Art Market (PAIAM)
Chairman of Trustees and a Past Master, The Worshipful Company of Arts Scholars
Trustee, Rolls Building Art and Education Trust
Court Member and Chairman of the Treasures Committee, The Worshipful Company of Tylers and Bricklayers
Languages
French (read)
Tom Christopherson
Senior Consultant
Tom is a Senior Legal Consultant at Canvas and has unparalleled experience in the art market and related higher education. At Canvas, Tom’s specialisms include contentious and non-contentious advice involving art and the art market, advising galleries, auctioneers, dealers and collectors, and assisting art market participants in meeting their regulatory obligations.
As a member of the AML sub group of the Executive Committee at BAMF, Tom assisted in producing the BAMF AML Guidelines which were approved in January by HM Treasury as the official AML Guidelines for the art market. Alongside Canvas, Tom is also legal consultant for Bonhams Auctioneers (since 2018), Constantine Cannon LLP (since 2020), and a consultant lecturer at the Sotheby’s Institute of Art.
Previously, Tom was European General Counsel at Sotheby’s for over a decade, a Senior Director at Sotheby's until 2016 and Head of Art and Law Studies at Sotheby’s Institute of Art for five years, having worked at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP and Withers LLP before moving to Sotheby’s and the art world in 1996.