Kevin Ray represents lenders and borrowers in commercial and corporate loan transactions. He also handles corporate reorganizations, museum and not-for-profit organization restructurings and reorganizations, debtor-in-possession and exit financings, debt restructurings, enforcement of creditors’ rights, insolvency matters, and negotiation of standstill and forbearance agreements.
Kevin has a thriving practice devoted to art and cultural heritage law. He represents and counsels art collectors, art galleries, museums, and cultural institutions in an array of transactions, including sale and purchase arrangements, consignments, art loan agreements, questions of title, provenance, and compliance with national and international law. He advises lenders and debtors on issues unique to art, antiquities, and other cultural property in a variety of lending and commercial transactions.
Before beginning his legal career, Kevin was Head of Special Collections (rare books and manuscripts) at Washington University in St. Louis and was an instructor at the Washington University School of Art.
Experience
Representative Matters
- Advised art collector on art auction agreements.
- Advised art collector on private sale agreements.
- Advise art advisory firm on art advisory agreements.
- Advised art education firm producer on various issues.
- Advised real estate development company on loan of art.
- Advised art collector’s estate on issues relating to antiquities.
- Advised art collectors on the acquisition and disposition of antiquities.
- Advised art collectors on the museum donations.
- Advised art collectors on structuring art estate and philanthropy plans.
- Advised a Native American art gallery and cultural center in loan, consignment, and exhibition matters.
- Advised collectors in loans secured by the collectors’ art collections.
- Advised lenders on documentation of loans secured by art and cultural property collateral.
- Advised a fund on documentation for art auction house advance loans.
Professional Highlights
Pro Bono Experience
Volunteer Attorney, Lawyers for the Creative Arts
Volunteer Attorney, Philadelphia Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts
Professional Activities
American Bar Association
American Bankruptcy Institute
International Bar Association
Recognition & Accomplishments
Member, Winning Team, Global M&A Network’s Turnaround Atlas Awards, “Chapter 11 Restructuring, Mid-Market Segments (100-250)” for the restructuring of Lombard Public Facilities Corporation, 2019
Member, Winning Team, TMA Chicago/Midwest Awards Program, “Small Transaction of the Year” for the restructuring of the Lombard Public Facilities Corporation, 2018
Member, Winning Team, "Cross Border Special Situation M&A Deal of the Year" for the AgFeed Industries sale of assets to Ningbo Tech Bank, TriOak Foods and Smithfield/Murphy, Global M&A Network’s Turnaround Atlas Awards, 2014
Member, Winning Team, U.S. News - Best Lawyers "Law Firm of the Year" in Bankruptcy & Creditor Debtor Rights / Insolvency & Reorganization Law and Litigation – Bankruptcy, 2013
Board Memberships & Community Service
American Bar Association
- International Law Section Art & Cultural Heritage Law Committee, Co-Chair, 2014-2015; Vice Chair, 2013-2014
- International Lawyer – International Legal Developments Year In Review, Editor-in-Chief, Art & Cultural Heritage Law chapter, 2015-2021
- International Law Section Secured Transactions & Insolvency Committee, Co-Chair, 2014-2015; Vice Chair, 2013-2014
- International Committee on Secured Transactions & Insolvency Newsletter, Editor-in-Chief, 2014-2016
- International Law Section’s Financial Products & Services Committee, Vice Chair, 2014-2015
- National Cultural Heritage Law Moot Court Competition, Judge, 2014-2017
Publications
“It All Comes Down To Choice of Law In Nazi-Looted Art Case,” Law360, Aug. 4, 2023
“Art & Business: Transactions in Art and Cultural Property,” American Bar Association, August 2017
“When Artists Disavow Their Work,” Best Lawyers, March 27, 2017
“Relationship Banking and ‘Tying’ under the Bank Holding Company Act,” The Deal, Jan. 8, 2016
“NAGPRA and Its Limitations: Repatriation of Indigenous Cultural Heritage,” The John Marshall Review of Intellectual Property Law, Vol. 15, Issue 3, 2016
“Art Consignment and the Risk of Fraud,” The Secured Lender, Dec. 3, 2015
“International Secured Transactions and Insolvency,” The Year in Review, American Bar Association Section of International Law, Volume 49, 2015
“The Art of Distress: Cultural Property in Workouts and Insolvencies,” The Deal, Sept. 17, 2014
“Rare Window Onto Artwork Valuation Issues In Insolvency,” Law360, Aug. 8, 2014
“What's Next For The Detroit Institute Of Arts?” Law360, April 24, 2014
“Detroit Institute of Arts,” International Legal Developments Year in Review, Spring 2014
“Investing in Distressed or Underperforming Companies: Recent Challenges to Favored Deal Structures,” Insights, Winter 2014
Related Insights
Credentials
Education
DePaul University College of Law (LL.M., International Art & Cultural Heritage Law, 2014)
Washington University in St. Louis School of Law (J.D. 2001)
Washington University in St. Louis (Ph.D. 1998)
University of Pittsburgh (M.L.S. 1987)
University of Pittsburgh (M.A. 1985)
University of Pittsburgh (B.A. 1983)
Admissions
Illinois
Kentucky
New Jersey
New York
Pennsylvania
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania