Gale Elston
Executive Director

Gale P. Elston is a distinguished attorney with a specialization in art law. Admitted to practice in both New York and California, Elston is the founder and principal attorney of Gale P. Elston P.C., where she has been offering her expertise since 1983. Her practice encompasses copyright law, VARA, copyright litigation, and trademark registration, representing artists, galleries, and corporations both nationally and internationally.

In addition to her legal practice, Elston serves as an adjunct professor of law and society at the City University of New York, where she has been teaching since 2013. Her lectures and publications have significantly contributed to the field, particularly in areas related to copyright law and artists’ rights. The cases she has litigated have improved rights for artists, Pavia v.1120

Avenue of the Americas Associates, et al, 95 CIV 1302 (1995) decided in the Federal Court for the Southern District of New York created first impression law and is discussed and cited in over 22 National Law Reviews, Law Journal articles, and Law Treatises, including the pre-eminent Treatise on Copyright, Law, Nimmer on Copyright (@8D.08 and 8D.06), the Harvard Law Journal ( 47 Harv. Intl. L.J. 353)(1960), Rutgers Law Review ( 55 Rutgers L. Rev. 477)( 2003), Berkeley Tech. Law Journal ( 20 Berkeley Tech. L.J 701)(2005), Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal (Cardozo Arts & Ent LJ 79)(1996), Santa Clara Law Review (41 Santa Clara L.Rev.203) (2000), UCLA Law Review, (55 UCLA L.Rev.1437)(2008) and International Copyright Law and Practice USA @7, among many others.

Elston’s passion for art is deeply personal and extends beyond the courtroom. She ran an art gallery in NYC in the 1980s and later, a cultural space in San Francisco. Driven to support artist activity, Elston believes art communicates our values, fostering a more cohesive, inclusive, and open-minded society. She sees art as linked to social justice, with the power to raise consciousness and promote ethical treatment of people in need, such as immigrants or marginalized communities.

Her commitment to the arts is further demonstrated through her roles as a Trustee for the Headlands Center for the Arts, a founding board member of White Box, an alternative cultural space in New York City, and as the founder of ReCreate, a nonprofit organization supporting artist in residency programming. She has served on the non-profit board of Faith Ringgold’s Anyone Can Fly Foundation. She currently serves on the following non-profit Boards: The Emily Harvey Foundation, supporting artists in Venice, Italy; and, The Robert D. Bielecki Foundation supporting artists and musicians and The San Francisco Archive and Legacy Foundation.

Elston’s academic credentials include a Ph.D. candidacy in philosophy from The European Graduate School, a Juris Doctorate from Benjamin Cardozo, and a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy with an English minor from Creighton University.