Nancy Adelson

Nancy Adelson has been fortunate to pursue a legal career that allowed her to nurture her deep love of the arts. She joined the legal department of The Museum of Modern Art in 1998, became MoMA’s Deputy General Counsel in 2006, and retired from the Museum in 2020. During her years at MoMA, Nancy provided advice and counsel to virtually every Museum department including exhibitions, curatorial, insurance and risk management, education, communications, retail, publications, labor relations, and human resources. Nancy also has extensive experience in copyright, trademark, and licensing issues, as well as art acquisitions, consignments, commissions, and gift, sponsorship, and loan agreements.

Prior to her work as a museum lawyer, Nancy represented, advised, and delivered educational programs to emerging artists and not-for-profit arts organizations while employed by Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts as Senior Legal Counsel. She began her legal career as a litigator, first at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton, and Garrison, where she was involved in complex, commercial, litigation, followed by Berger and Steingut, where she focused on commercial and intellectual property litigation. Nancy graduated from Yale University with a BA in Art History and obtained her JD from New York University School of Law, where she was a Walter J. Derenberg Fellow in Copyright Law.