Mayer Brown assists the World Jewish Restitution Organization to advance restitution of looted art in the United States under the Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act of 2025

Mayer Brown helped achieve a significant pro bono victory on behalf of the World Jewish Restitution Organization, one of the leading global organizations advocating for the return of private property and compensation for Holocaust survivors and their families, by securing passage of key provisions regarding looted art in the US in the Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery (HEAR) Act of 2025, which the President has signed into law.  

The legislation makes it easier to recover artworks looted from victims of Nazi persecution and currently held in the United States. Thousands of such works are believed to remain in US museums and private collections without having been restored to their rightful owners.

For decades, Holocaust survivors and their heirs pursuing restitution claims against US institutions in US courts faced significant procedural hurdles unrelated to the merits of their cases, including statutes of limitations and equitable defenses such as laches. These barriers often prevented courts from reaching the underlying question of rightful ownership.

Mayer Brown authored a persuasive memorandum detailing the procedural and legal barriers that had prevented survivors and their heirs from successfully litigating claims against US museums and institutions currently in possession of artwork stolen from their families during the Holocaust, and lobbied successfully  in Congress for these provisions.

The HEAR Act of 2025 abolishes the original law’s sunset provision, and abolishes all non-merits procedural defenses. 

Mayer Brown Litigation & Dispute Resolution partner Marc Cohen stated, “It has been an honor to represent our longstanding pro bono client, the World Jewish Restitution Organization in achieving a significant victory in the fight to bring a measure of justice to the victims of the Holocaust and their families, through the passage of these provisions in the HEAR Act of 2025 affecting looted art in the United States.  This representation demonstrates Mayer Brown’s continuing commitment to help build a more inclusive and fair society, and provide equal access to justice, through our pro bono work.” 

The Mayer Brown team was led by partner Marc Cohen and included senior financial analyst and government affairs advisor John Mirvish, and associates Charley B. Lanter and Dassi Diament, all in the firm’s Washington, DC office.

Learn more about Mayer Brown’s pro bono work here.

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