Ann Fenech has been elected president of the Comite Maritime International (CMI) by the general assembly of the CMI held in Antwerp. She was nominated by the Maritime Law of Association of Australia and New Zealand and the Malta Maritime Law Association.
She is the first woman and first Maltese to hold this position in the 125-year history of the CMI.
The CMI is the international maritime organisation responsible for drafting the majority of international maritime conventions including the Arrest of Ships Convention, the Salvage Convention, the Limitation of Liability Convention, the Collision Regulations, and several others.
It has just completed its work a working group which agreed on the text of a new convention on the international effects of the judicial sale of ships. This is scheduled for adoption by the general assembly of the United Nations shortly.
The CMI is a not-for-profit organisation whose aim is the unification of International maritime law with its seat in Antwerp. It enjoys observer status at the International Maritime Organisation and the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law. Its membership consists of international maritime law associations from all over the world.
Fenech has been practising maritime law exclusively for the past 36 years. She started her career at Holman Fenwick and Willan in London in 1986 and then moved to Chaffe McCall Philipps Toler and Sarpy in 1991 before returning to Malta in 1992 and setting up the Marine Litigation Department at Fenech & Fenech Advocates.
She was managing partner of the firm from 2008 to 2022 and currently heads the marine litigation department.
In her address to the CMI general assembly, she said she plans to build on the foundations and ongoing work of her predecessors, and looks with confidence into the future.
She said she will work towards developing stronger and better relationships with other international and regional organisations which share the same vision of making the maritime sector around the world stronger and better and to underline the relevance of the CMI in the current constantly evolving and dynamic scenario.