Tiffany de Waynecourt-Steele
Co- founder of Helm Advisors
Tiffany is a Swiss-based UK Solicitor and South African Barrister focused on the intersection of art law (transactions and disputes) and trust law in the private client domain. She has a background in dispute resolution and her law practice has included arbitration since 2006. She has served as Counsel at national level in national and international commercial disputes including in relation to issues under the Warsaw Convention and justiciability of claims against the UNSC. She has also represented parties before international bodies and tribunals and in international commercial arbitration. Tiffany’s Staff Attorney experience at the Claims Resolution Tribunal arbitrating restitution claims to holocaust era assets means that she is also well-placed to assist clients in recovering stolen and looted artworks. Tiffany has experience in transactions and disputes relating to title/ownership, control and possession of art works and also advises owners on issues surrounding attribution and authenticity, especially in relation to Old Masters. She draws on her experience in International Law to advise clients on cultural heritage risks in art transactions/ disputes.
Tiffany’s clients are generally collectors, family offices, investors, entrepreneurs, artists, trustees and bankers, seeking her counsel on all aspects of art as an asset and on trust law issues. Her advisory/ dispute-related work embraces: art transactions, including due diligence strategies; art finance; loans to museums, including issues relating to immunity from seizure; insurance-related issues; import and export regulations, plus logistics; and art-related aspects of estates, wills and trusts.
Tiffany is a Professional Advisor to the International Art Market (“PAIAM”) and a Member of the Art Law Foundation in Geneva. Tiffany sits on the Artworks Committee of a Trust in South Africa dedicated to collecting and exhibiting art which is focused on issues of justice, democracy and constitutionalism. She advises the Trustee owners on art law issues that arise from managing the collection, including in relation to loans and donation agreements, title, provenance, cultural heritage and restitution.
Prior to moving to Geneva, Tiffany was a Barrister at the High Court of South Africa and a member of the Johannesburg bar. After graduating, Tiffany served as a Judge’s clerk at the Constitutional Court of South Africa.
Tiffany read a Bachelor of Civil Law (with a focus on International Dispute Settlement) and a Master of Philosophy (with distinction) at the University of Oxford ( Corpus Christi College). She also studied at the Sorbonne in Paris. Tiffany works in English and French.
Tiffany was appointed to the Arbitration pool of CAfA in November 2022.
Jurisdiction: South Africa, Switzerland, U.K.