Ann Fenech Fenech & Fenech Advocates

Ann Fenech is the managing partner of Fenech and Fenech Advocates and head of the marine litigation department. In 1986 she qualified as a lawyer and joined the shipping and commercial firm of Holman Fenwick and Willan in London until 1991 when she joined Chaffe, McCall, Phillips, Toler and Sarpy in New Orleans.

In 1992 she joined Fenech and Fenech Advocates setting up the marine litigation department. She deals exclusively with the whole spectrum of ship-related matters ranging from disputes arising out of salvage, collisions, towage, pilotage to ship building contracts, and from shortage and contamination claims to bunker disputes. She has substantial experience in providing immediate casualty response acting for both plaintiffs and defendants. She represents a number of banks and other financial institutions in enforcement proceedings and has extensive experience in judicial sales by auction and court-approved private sales.

She is the president of the Malta Maritime Law Association and was the chairman of the pilotage board in Malta from 1994 to 2008. She was responsible for the drafting of the Pilotage Regulations and the sections on jurisdiction in rem in the Code of Organisation and Civil Procedure; she is an accredited arbitrator with the Malta Arbitration Centre and is a lecturer at the University of Malta on Charter parties, Salvage, Towage, Pilotage and Collisions and at the International Maritime Law Institute where she lectures on the practice of maritime law. She is the legal correspondent of the West of England P&I Club, The American Club and Steamship Mutual. Over the years, she has been involved in the majority of high profile shipping casualties either in Malta or affecting vessels flying the Malta flag.

In October 2013, she was appointed Honorary Patron of the Malta Law Academy. In June 2014, she was elected to the Executive Council of the Comité Maritime International (CMI) and is the Chair of the international working group on Ship Finance Security Practices and a member of the international working group on Illegal Arrests. In June 2017 she was elected to serve a second term on the Executive Council of the CMI. In November 2018 she was elected Vice President of the CMI. She was also appointed co-chair of the CMI International Working Group on the international recognition of judicial sales and co-ordinator for the project at UNCITRAL Working Group V1.

In 2012, 2014 and 2015 she was awarded Best in Shipping Law at the European Women in Business Awards held in London.

In October 2015 she was elected to sit on the Board of the Malta Maritime Forum.