NEW YORK, NY.- Sotheby’s announced that Jonathan A. Olsoff has been named Worldwide General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, effective immediately. Mr. Olsoff will report to Tad Smith, the Company’s President and Chief Executive Officer, and will be based in New York.

“With nearly 20 years at Sotheby’s as General Counsel in the Americas, Assistant Corporate Secretary and leading the Company’s global litigation team, Jon brings a wealth of expertise in the legal disciplines that affect Sotheby’s business,” said Tad Smith, Sotheby’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “Jon’s deep knowledge of the Company and the art market landscape uniquely qualify him to partner with me as Sotheby’s looks to the future.”

Mr. Olsoff received his B.A. from Tufts University and his J.D. from American University’s Washington College of Law. Following his graduation from law school, he clerked on the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, after which he worked as a litigation associate at Covington & Burling in Washington, D.C. In 1992, Mr. Olsoff moved to New York, joining the intellectual property group at Skadden Arps, and in 1994, began work at Berger & Steingut, where he handled a variety of litigation matters for Sotheby’s and others in the art world.

Mr. Olsoff succeeds Gilbert L. Klemann, II, who had served as Worldwide General Counsel for Sotheby’s since 2008 and retired earlier this year. He joined Sotheby’s in 1997 after having been one of Sotheby’s lead outside litigators for approximately six years.