Lecturer Bios
Zachary Goldman, Esq.
Zachary Goldman's practice focuses on financial crime, financial technology and national security issues, with a particular focus on financial sanctions, anti–money laundering (AML), cryptocurrency and distributed ledger technology, and other novel payment technologies.
Mr. Goldman serves as a trusted advisor for the financial services sector, technology industry, investment firms and global companies in a range of industries, counseling clients on compliance with the complex body of laws and regulations governing AML, sanctions and anti-bribery/anti-corruption. He has experience pursuing cryptocurrency licenses before the New York State Department of Financial Services, and advising companies on the broad range of state and federal laws governing cryptocurrency matters.
Diana Wierbicki, Esq.
Diana leads our global art practice and is a partner in the private client and tax team.
As the head of our global art practice, Diana works with Withers’ attorneys with expertise in various legal areas and located across the US, Europe and Asia to ensure that we have a comprehensive approach to addressing all of our clients’ art needs. She works on a wide range of domestic and cross-border art law matters involving antiquities to contemporary collections. Her practice is focused on transactional art law dealing with all aspects of purchases, sales, loans, consignments and charitable giving of works of art, including tax planning and art finance analysis. She reviews millions of dollars in art transactions and assists clients in navigating the web of legal issues that affect art transactions, such as sales tax, income and wealth transfer taxes, money laundering issues, cultural property concerns, contracted private and auction sale issues, tax audits and charitable planning.
Her clients include the industry’s top collectors, dealers, galleries, charitable organizations, artists, auction houses and museums. In addition, Diana advises high-net-worth individuals and their families on tax, trust and estate planning matters, as well as on commercial transactions associated with that planning. Art is a unique asset, which presents challenging valuation and family relationship issues that Diana is particularly sensitive to when working with clients. Diana also advises art businesses on all aspects of their transactions, operations and global expansion. She assists artists with their legacy planning and gallery representation.
As a forward thinker, Diana represents clients on many groundbreaking developments that are changing the landscape of the art market, including technology and art and the parallels of fashion and art. She is the co-author of the Fifth Edition of Art Law: The Guide for Collectors, Investors, Dealers & Artist and is a frequent speaker on a variety of issues affecting the art market. An established media commentator, Diana has been quoted in numerous news outlets, including The New York Times, CNN , Bloomberg Business, BBC , as well as having written articles for various publications including Forbes, Trusts & Estates, for which she sits on the editorial board, Crain’s, and Wealth Management.
Diana is globally recognized by Chambers as one of the leading lawyers in Art and Cultural Property Law and highly regarded for her advice. One source says She would be at the top of any list. She has long-standing expertise and contacts within the art world, and adds: She handles some of the biggest deals for collectors and is highly respected by auction houses and galleries. Another states: She advises a lot of galleries and is active at high levels. She understands the issues, collectors and the art market. Additionally, the New York Law Journal named Diana to its 2020 list of “New York Trailblazers.”
As a contributor to the art and legal community, Diana serves as Co-chair of the Appraisers Association of America’s Art Law Day, as Chair of the New York City Bar Association’s Art Law Committee, on the Professional Advisory Council of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, on the Planned Giving Advisory Council of the New York Historical Society and as a member of the ArtTable Circle.
Courtney Booth Christensen
Courtney brings more than 20 years of experience in the art world to Winston Art Group. The child of passionate collectors, she has parlayed a lifetime of attending auctions and galleries into a career in the arts. As Director of Trusts & Estates for Winston Art Group, Courtney works with fiduciaries, executors, families and advisors on strategic estate planning, appraisal and disposition of tangible personal property.
Prior to joining Winston, Courtney had an 18 year career at Sotheby’s where she was most recently Vice President and Head of Department, Trusts & Estates and a specialist in American Art and Prints, working in both the New York and London offices. She has also worked in the firm’s Philadelphia and San Francisco offices. Courtney has been a licensed auctioneer since 2008, and continues to offer her auctioneering expertise to a host of museums and charitable organizations. As Vice President of the Board of East Side House Settlement, an educational and community service organization in the South Bronx, she has been closely affiliated with the Winter Show since 2009 and presently serves as Vice Chair.
Currently on the Planned Giving Committees for the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the New York Historical Society, Courtney has also worked closely with the Shelburne Museum, where she curated exhibition of John James Audubons’ The Birds of America. She has been a lecturer and panelist on a full range of art and art market topics at museums and continuing education organizations across the country, including the Heckerling Institute Annual Trusts and Estates Conference and Sotheby’s Institute of Art. Courtney holds a Bachelor of Arts in History from Princeton University, and is compliant with Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP). Courtney lives with her husband and two daughters in Manhattan.
