Channah is the co-chair of the firm’s Art Law Practice and advises clients on issues relating to art and cultural property law. She is an experienced business and legal advisor on museums, cultural property, the art market, art and intellectual property, and restitution and repatriation. Channah’s practice combines eight years of museum leadership as chief museum counsel for all Army museums across the United States, Europe and Asia, with seven years as a leading appellate attorney for the Department of Justice, litigating complex and novel legal issues.
As chief counsel for Army Museums, Channah provided strategic advice and legal counsel for the National Museum of the U.S. Army and 46 subsidiary Army museums, as well as the Army Artifact Collection. This included serving as the Army’s lead attorney advising on all matters related to the opening of its National Museum in 2020. Channah advised national institutions on sensitive repatriation and restitution matters, such as Nazi propaganda art, as well as implementation of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). Among many other accomplishments, Channah led the team drafting the Collections Management Plan that determined the policies and procedures for all aspects of museum operations, establishing governance of Army museums.
Channah earned a bachelor’s degree in art history and French from Cornell University, a master’s degree in art business from Sotheby’s Institute of Art in London, and an LL.M. in art and cultural property law from Georgetown University Law Center. She received her J.D. from the University of New Mexico. Throughout her studies, Channah has held multiple prestigious arts-related internships, including work at the Mimi Ferzt Gallery in New York City, the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, Bonhams London, the Robert Holder Ltd. art consultancy in London, and the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington, D.C. Channah also studied at the Sorbonne and the Geneva Institute in Transnational Law.
Channah serves as a faculty member of the Museum Studies Master’s Degree Program at George Washington University, teaching a course on cultural property and museum law. She is a regular presenter at art law conferences across the country, and has performed a detail to INTERPOL’s Cultural Property Crimes Program. Channah recently completed a three-year term on the Steering Committee for the Legal Issues in Museum Administration Conference and chaired the Art and Cultural Heritage Law Committee of the American Bar Association’s Section of International Law. Channah is serving on the Art Law Committee of the New York City Bar Association for a three-year term continuing until 2027.
Before her career in art, Channah worked for two years as a business analyst in the private equity market, providing investor portfolio analyses and examining various deal structures for venture capitalists.
Note: District of Columbia admission pending—practicing under the supervision of a licensed attorney.
Presentations and Publications
Speaker, Hot Topics in Art Law, After Hours at the Denver Art Museum: Where The Wild Things Are, October 16, 2024.
Speaker, Social Media Update: This Panel Is Extremely Online, Legal Issues in Museum Administration Conference, Cleveland, Ohio, May 2024.
Speaker, From Mozart to Marches, Country to Rock & Roll: Enhancing the Museum Experience with Music, Legal Issues in Museum Administration Conference, Cleveland, Ohio, May 2024.
Speaker, Political Engagement and Institutional Best Practices, Legal Issues in Museum Administration Conference, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, May 2023.
Speaker, Global Engagement: Issues with International Loans and International Projects, Legal Issues in Museum Administration, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, May 2023.
Speaker, What’s New in Restitution and Repatriation, Legal Issues in Museum Administration Conference, Washington, D.C., March 2022.
Speaker, The Protection of Cultural Property in Armed Conflict, D.C. Bar Association Event, Washington, D.C., March 2022.
Speaker, Novel Collection Challenges Facing New Museums, Legal Issues in Museum Administration Conference, Washington, D.C., April 2019.
Author, 2015 Litigation Report, Legal Issues in Museum Administration Conference, The Smithsonian Institution and The American Law Institute, Washington, D.C., April 2016.
Speaker, Cultural Property in Collections Management and Estate Planning, American Bar Association, Art & Cultural Heritage Law Committee, Washington, D.C., June 2015.
Guest Lecturer, United States Laws Affecting Cultural Property, Savannah Law School, Savannah, Georgia, March 2015.
Author, 2014 Litigation Report, Legal Issues in Museum Administration Conference, The Smithsonian Institution and The American Law Institute, Washington, D.C., March 2015.
Presenter, Cultural Property Issues in Collections Management and Estate Planning, Art Law Conference: The Practice of Law in the International Art World, Sotheby’s Institute, Los Angeles, California, January 2015.
Author Comment, Advancing the Arts Community in New Mexico Through Moral Rights and Droit de Suite: the International Impetus and Implications of Preemption Analysis, New Mexico Law Review, Vol. 36, Summer 2006.
Media Coverage
A Look Into Art Law With Senior Counsel Channah Norman, Sotheby’s Institute of Art, September 6, 2024.
Top Atty At Army Center Of Military History Joins Shook Hardy, Law360, July 11, 2024.