On January 31, 2025, the Chapman Law Review hosted its 2025 Symposium: Raiders of the Lost Art – Legal Challenges and Recoveries. The Symposium was featured in a blog post on the Chapman Fowler School of Law’s website. Below, you will find a summary and photos from that article. Credit and our deepest thanks are due to Deane Sutic. The full blog post can be found here.

Students, faculty, friends, and family entered Kennedy Hall and experienced having their picture taken and affixed to an ID badge designating them as part of the iconic Monuments Men. The Symposium Hall also featured a map display where attendees could track where famous pieces of looted art were taken from. Thus, the 2025 Chapman Law Review Symposium immersed attendees into the dramatic world of looted art from their first steps into the building. On top of it all, this year’s Symposium boasted a record number of attendees, requiring additional tables and chairs to be brought in midway through the event!

Attendees had the pleasure of hearing from a variety of legal scholars and experts as they discussed the multifaceted field of looted art and cultural restitution law. Throughout the course of two panels and a keynote address, attendees learned about cultural restitution efforts in Nigeria, Armenia, Nepal, and Ukraine, and how each of these cultural communities has been both helped and hindered by varying bodies of law. Furthermore, speakers addressed how art law cases interact with the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, as well as how voluntary museum compliance is critical to hastening the return of looted objects to their rightful places. To close, attendees and speakers mingled in the Kennedy Hall lobby, painting a picture of a bright future for all involved.