Ann Fenech

Ann Fenech is a Partner at Fenech & Fenech Advocates – Malta and Heads the Marine Litigation Department.  She qualified in 1986 and immediately joined Holman Fenwick and Willan in London. In 1991 she moved from there to Chaffe, McCall, Phillips Toler and Sarpy in New Orleans.  In 1992 she joined Fenech & Fenech Advocates setting up the Marine Litigation Department. She was appointed Managing Partner of the firm in June 2008 a position she held until December 2020.

She has extensive experience in disputes ranging from ship building contracts to immediate casualty response in collisions having acted and advised some of the most important international maritime operators. She has been involved in the majority of serious casualties involving Maltese registered  vessels world wide and those occurring in Maltese territorial waters. She has worked on landmark cases including the explosion on board the Um El Faroud, the disappearance of the trawler Simshar, the Poker cases leading to a redrafting of the law on jurisdiction in rem; Finaval v Scorpio resulting in the largest award in damages at the time and the first ever court approved private sale of the vessel Thor Spirit.  She has extensive experience in Marine related transactional including having acted for the Malta Privatisation Unit on the privatisation processes related to the then Malta Drydocks.

She is the legal correspondent for the West of England, the American Club and Steamship mutual.

She has been responsible for the drafting of a number of laws related to the maritime sector including the Pilotage Regulations and the sections on Jurisdiction in Rem in the Code of Organisation and Civil Procedure.  She lectures extensively on the subject of Maritime Law in Malta and abroad.

Dr. Fenech lectures on Salvage, Pilotage, Towage and Collisions as well as Carriage of Goods by Sea at the University of Malta and delivers a series of lectures on Maritime Practice at the International Maritime law Institute.

She has written several articles in a number of publications and is responsible for the Chapter on Malta in the Ship Arrest Handbook published by LLP Ltd 1997 Edition; Shipping and International Trade Law published by Thomson Reuters (Professional) UK Ltd Edition 2015 and The Shipping Law Review published by Law Business Research Ltd Third Edition 2016.

In June 2008 she was elected President of the Malta Maritime Law Association.

In October 2010 she was appointed Executive Board Member of the European Maritime Law Organisation. In 2012, 2014 and 2015 she was awarded Best in Shipping Law at the European Women in Business Awards held in London.  In October 2013 she was appointed Honorary Patron of the Malta Law Academy under the auspices of the Maltese Chamber of Advocates and in June 2014 was elected on the Executive Council of the Comite Maritime International – the international organisation responsible for drafting the vast majority of international maritime conventions. She was subsequently chosen to chair the International Working group on Ship Finance Security Practices. In October 2015 she was appointed on the Malta Maritime Forum Board of Directors and in April 2016 she was also appointed to represent the Malta Maritime Law Association on the board of the government agency Malta Marittima. In September 2017 she was elected to serve a second term on the Executive Council of the Comite Maritime International. In November 2018 she was elected as Vice President to the Executive Council of the Comité Maritime International. In June 2020 she was appointed a Director to 1923 Investments plc and in May 2021 she was appointed a Director of MMH Malta Limited.