Spear’s Review

Withers partner Eleni Polycarpou is co-head of the firm’s international arbitration team, putting her in the perfect position to advise and act on behalf of art-owning HNWs, galleries, advisers, lenders and institutions around the world.

A specialist in art disputes, Polycarpou is also an experienced mediator and arbitrator, having become an accredited mediator with the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution in 2024. She tells Spear’s that recent cases have included a multi-jurisdictional fraud dispute over ownership of a large collection of paintings, as well as ‘a number of cases acting for galleries and collectors in cross-border restitution matters and in consignment disputes often involving insolvency advice’.

She is a member of Withers’ Middle East group and has worked with clients with connections to the UAE and Saudi Arabia for many years.