Nicholas M. O’Donnell Joins Wuersch & Gering
We are pleased to announce that Nicholas M. O’Donnell has joined our firm as a Partner in the Litigation, Intellectual Property, and Employment groups.
Prior to joining the firm, Nicholas was a partner at Sullivan & Worcester LLP. He holds a JD from Boston College Law School and a BA in Art History magna cum laude from Williams College. He is admitted to practice in New York, Massachusetts, and the District of Columbia, as well as before various Federal District Courts and Courts of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court. Nicholas speaks fluent German and Spanish, and conversational French.
Nicholas can be reached at nicholas.odonnell@wg-law.com, or +1 (212) 509-4712.
Nicholas is an experienced trial lawyer and Supreme Court advocate with more than two decades of experience representing corporations, financial institutions, cultural organizations, and high-net-worth individuals in complex commercial, employment, zoning and land use, intellectual property, defamation, and cross-border disputes, particularly for German-speaking clients.
He is one of the leading art lawyers in the United States. He advises museums, galleries, businesses, dealers, auction houses, and collectors about commercial disputes and agreements, exhibitions and cultural property, restitution, copyright, and de-accessioning issues. He is among the preeminent authorities in the United States on disputes arising out of art transfers in the Nazi era. His book A Tragic Fate—Law and Ethics in the Battle Over Nazi-Looted Art is widely considered the definitive work on the subject. He publishes and teaches regularly, including “Refuge in Exile—The Peculiar Category of Fluchtgut and Art Transferred by Victims in Flight from Nazi Persecution,” Kan. J.L. & PuB. Pol’y., Vol.XXXIII:3 (2024).
Nicholas has been recognized consistently for his practice. He has been ranked in Chambers High Net Worth (Band 1) for Art and Cultural Property Law 2021-2025 and named “Go To Business Litigation Lawyer” by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly (2024). He is listed among Best Lawyers in America® (Commercial Litigation), and in The Legal 500’s Guide to Outstanding Lawyers Nationwide (General Commercial Disputes).
He is past Co-Chair of the Arts, Cultural Institutions and Heritage Law Committee of the International Bar Association and a member of the New York City Bar Art Law Committee.