Our Team
Founding Partner
Founding Partner Dr. Jennifer A. Morris is an art historian and attorney whose practice focuses on art, museum, and cultural heritage matters. In addition to advising clients on provenance and title issues, Jennifer assists collectors, museums, and other nonprofit organizations with due diligence, governance matters, and international trade controls.
ART, ANTIQUITIES, AND RARE COLLECTIBLES
Jennifer has helped clients handle the acquisition, sale, and donation of a wide variety of collectibles, including blue-chip artworks, antiquities, dinosaur fossils, and rare natural history specimens, including moon dust from the Apollo 11 mission. She counsels museums, auction houses, and private individuals on collections management, best practices, and ownership issues. She has litigation and alternative dispute resolution experience in matters concerning looted antiquities, forced sales, and recovery of stolen cultural property. Jennifer also advises clients on thefts from museums and archaeological sites and import/export issues affecting cultural artifacts.
MUSEUMS & CULTURAL NONPROFITS
Jennifer works with museums and other cultural nonprofit organizations in a variety of capacities, including museum policymaking, collections management, board and governance issues, and compliance with state and federal filing requirements. She advises nonprofit clients on international heritage preservation and restoration projects in war zones.
INDIGENOUS HERITAGE
Jennifer works with American Indian tribes and other stakeholders to protect indigenous heritage sites and cultural objects. She has advised tribes, museums, and collectors on cultural property repatriation and restitution, including Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) compliance.
About Jennifer
Jennifer graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in Art, Art History, & Visual Studies from Duke University, where she received the Nancy Kaneb Art History Award and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. Jennifer then earned her M.A. and Ph.D. in Art & Archaeology at Princeton University. Her doctoral research focused on early modern German art. From 2012-2014, she served as the Samuel H. Kress Institutional Fellow at the Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte (Central Institute for Art History) in Munich, which enabled her to establish active connections to German museums and research centers.
Following her doctoral work at Princeton, Jennifer completed her J.D. at the Marshall-Wythe School of Law at the College of William & Mary while working as a research fellow at the Muscarelle Museum of Art. She has served as an adjunct professor of Art & Cultural Heritage Law at William & Mary and frequently speaks to law students and undergraduates about careers in the cultural heritage sector.
Jennifer has lectured internationally and published on a wide variety of topics related to art and cultural heritage law, including the illicit trafficking of antiquities, Nazi-looted art, international cultural patrimony laws, repatriation, and laws and regulations affecting the art, antiquities, and fossil trades.
In her spare time, Jennifer enjoys riding and spending time with her horses at her home farm. She shows competitively on the hunter/jumper circuit and has won national championships in the amateur owner hunter division.
Prior to founding Morris Art Law, Jennifer was a Partner and Chair of the Art and Museum Law practice at Cultural Heritage Partners, a Virginia-based law, policy, and strategy firm serving clients in the cultural heritage sector.
Andrew P. Gamble, J.D
Law Clerk
Andrew P. Gamble is a graduate of American University, where he obtained his B.A. in History and Communication, Law, Economics, and Government, as well as his J.D. While at American, Andrew participated in archaeological excavations and became the founding member of the law school’s Art and Cultural Heritage Law Society. Prior to joining Morris Art Law, Andrew worked with Jennifer and Claire at Cultural Heritage Partners as a Summer Associate and Law Clerk. He has also served as a legal researcher for the Antiquities Coalition and has published on international cultural patrimony laws, the ethics of safeguarding cultural heritage, bilateral cultural agreements, and repatriation.
Claire O’Brien
Paralegal and Office Administrator
Claire graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in Classics, Art History, and Italian from Creighton University. She spent a semester at the Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies in Catania, Sicily. Claire wrote her thesis on an unidentified Roman portrait head in the Joslyn Art Museum's collection where she was an intern. She received her M.A. in World Heritage Studies from Brandenburgische Technische Universität, Cottbus-Senftenberg in Germany.
Claire served in a variety of roles at the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA), where she worked in collections management, interpretation, copyright clearance, publications, curatorial, and museum management. She was the Curatorial Assistant in American and Decorative Art at the BMA, working on the American Wing re-installation and also serving in the Chief Curator's office, where she worked closely with senior leadership, the board of directors, and donors.
Prior to joining Morris Art Law, Claire worked with Jennifer and Andrew at Cultural Heritage Partners, where she managed the Preservation Practice and supported federal litigation in National Historic Preservation Act cases.
In her spare time, Claire makes death metal baby quilts and embroiders Rubens-inspired nudes.