19 May 2009
Key Points:
Kirstie Howard was a lawyer in our Litigation team in Sydney before leaving in 2002 to pursue LLM studies at Columbia University in New York. She is now Assistant Counsel in the legal team at The Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met) in New York.
What does an average day for you involve?
No day is average – but most days are spent thinking about art in one way or another! In my role at the Met, I advise on cultural property and World War II legal issues and claims and I advise curators on legal issues concerning acquisitions of new works for the Met’s collection. I draft and negotiate exhibition contracts and loan agreements and I handle all of the Museum’s litigation (save for labour and employment litigation). In addition, I am responsible for purchasing the Museum’s insurance and overseeing risk management issues.
How is your current role different to working as a lawyer at Clayton Utz?
The wall décor is slightly different! Working in-house is a very different experience from working at a firm (among other things, I no longer fill in timesheets, but my clients now work in the same building and they know where to find me!). In addition, working for a non-profit is very different from working for a for-profit enterprise. After Columbia, I worked for a large corporate law firm in New York City, which was similar to my experience at Clayton Utz, though the deals involved more zeros and the hours were a little more extreme!
What are some of the more challenging and/or interesting aspects of your role?
I get the chance to stroll amongst some of the greatest works of art in the world, and I get to work with the world’s foremost art experts. The challenge is to make legal concepts accessible to non-lawyers and, as always in the non-profit world, to do more with less.
How would you describe your time at Clayton Utz? What were some of the highlights?
I look back fondly on my years at Clayton Utz. I made, and continue to stay in touch with, many friends there. I definitely miss the Australian sense of humour (particularly at Friday night drinks) and that harbour view.
Considering the current economic crisis, how would you describe the mood in New York at the moment?
New York City is a more sombre place than it was in the boom years of 2005-7. Everyone knows someone who has been fired, and I’m definitely seeing a lot of stores and restaurants closing in my neighbourhood. Property prices and rents are beginning to come off their insane highs – making New York City marginally more affordable, unless you’re a banker at a firm which accepted TARP money (a recent New York Times article was only half-jokingly entitled "You Try to Live on $500K in this Town"). Then again, it’s still incredibly crowded and next to impossible to get a reservation at the newest three-star restaurant … so there’s still a buzz in the air.
What are your expectations for the market you are currently working in over the next 12 months? What changes do you expect to see?
I expect the non-profit sector to continue to contract. At the Museum, I think we’ll see a greater emphasis on the works in our own collection as opposed to major foreign loan shows. And I expect we’ll see more New Yorkers at the Met, and fewer European tourists.
How do you like to spend your time when you are away from the office?
I am a big fan of travel – and New York is a pretty convenient place from which to travel (though it’s not terribly convenient to Australia!). For the past four years, my husband and I have been volunteers for an organisation called Puppies Behind Bars, which trains inmates to raise puppies to become service dogs for the disabled and explosive detection canines for law enforcement. The puppies are brought into the city for socialisation on weekends, and so we get to introduce a service-dog-in-training to the sights, sounds and smells of New York City one weekend per month.
What are some of the best things New York has to offer?
It’s hard to be bored in New York City... and it’s also hard to rest!
