Luke Nikas is widely recognized as one of the top lawyers in the country and has been selected as a Law360 MVP and named to Lawdragon’s list of the 500 Leading Lawyers in America, Lawdragon’s list of the 500 Leading Plaintiff Financial Lawyers, Benchmark Litigation’s “Under 40 Hot List,” Crain’s New York 40 Under 40, the New York Law Journal’s list of Rising Stars, the Best Lawyers in America, and the Super Lawyers list by New York Super Lawyers. He has been described in The Legal 500 as “whip-smart,” in Lawdragon as a “litigation star,” and in Chambers USA as “a sharp litigator and tough lawyer who knows how to do aggressive … litigation when the stakes are high. He is very good at what he does.” Chambers USA further states that “Luke is an exceptional attorney” and is “absolutely amazing on his feet; he can come into court and have no notes. His trial experience and ability to convey and argue for clients is just top-notch.” Luke has also been praised for his highly creative solutions in seemingly intractable cases: in a recent matter, Reuters lauded Luke for his “uncommonly interesting lawyering” and called his strategy a “pièce de résistance” and “surprise move” that “completely blindsided” his opponents. He has been honored as a “Litigator of the Week” by The American Lawyer.

Luke represents individuals and companies in almost every type of litigation across the globe, including in an array of industries such as art, advertising, banking, consumer goods, law firm business, insurance, pharmaceutical, health care, professional sports, media and entertainment, technology, and real estate. He has represented Fortune 50, 100, and 500 companies, prominent individuals, and has been called upon as a trusted advisor for clients involved in highly sensitive matters that require sound judgment and discretion and in disputes where civil, criminal, and public relations concerns intersect. Luke also is Co-Chair of the firm’s Art Litigation and Disputes Practice. A prominent art publication called him one of the most “highly influential” art lawyers in the world after he led the defense in an art forgery case dubbed by ArtNews as “The Art Trial of the Century.” The media has called him a “star art litigator,” he was awarded the 2021 “Art Lawyer of the Year” by Best Lawyers, he’s been described in the New York Times as a “top art lawyer,” and Reuters has observed that “[i]f there’s a high-stakes fight in the art world, there’s a good chance … Luke Nikas is front and center.”

Luke has been profiled and interviewed extensively, including by Bloomberg, Gagosian Quarterly, and Lawdragon. He has been interviewed by Anderson Cooper on CBS’s 60 Minutes, CNBC’s show American Greed, and for various podcasts, movies, a Netflix documentary, news articles, and publications. He co-founded an international arbitration court, called the Court of Arbitration for Art, that is dedicated to the resolution of art law disputes and was nominated for “Best Innovation” in the field of arbitration by the Global Arbitration Review.

Luke earned his J.D. from Harvard Law School, where he graduated magna cum laude in the top 10% of his class.