Bio Note
Judge Professor David J. Attard

Judge Professor David Attard has been admitted as Advocate in Malta, and a Barrister at law in England and Wales. He is a member of the Middle Temple, London.

Professor Attard read law at the University of Malta (LL.D.) and the University of Oxford (D.Phil.). In 1988, he was appointed to the Chair of Public International Law at the University of Malta. He has been a Visiting Professor of International Law at the University of Rome II, a Senior Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Oxford, a Fullbright Fellow, Yale Law School, and in 2008 he was appointed Professor Invité at the Université de Paris I- Panthéon Sorbonne.

In 1990, he was appointed the first holder of the UNEP Chair of Environmental Diplomacy. Since 1992, he has been the Director of the IMO International Maritime Law Institute.

Professor Attard has contributed various articles to leading journals. His book “The Exclusive Economic Zone in International Law” (Clarendon Press) was awarded the Paul Guggenheim (International Law) Prize, Geneva. In 1988 on Professor Attard’s advice, the Government of Malta requested the United Nations to take action to protect the global climate. His proposal led to the 1992 UN Convention on the Protection of Global Climate.

Professor Attard held the post of Special Advisor to the Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization in London, and Special Legal Advisor to the Executive Director of the United Nations Environmental Programme in Nairobi.

In 2003 he negotiated with The Nippon Foundation on behalf of IMLI which culminated in the Project entitled “Human Resources Development Project for the Advancement of a more Effective Global Legal Order of the Oceans”. It is now in its eleventh year and led to 106 Government officials from 50 States studying at IMLI.

In 2004 Professor Attard was awarded the French honour of Chevalier dans l’Ordre National de la Legion D’Honneur by the President of the French Republic. In 2007 he was awarded the honour of Official, National Order of Merit by the President of Malta. In 2009 he was awarded the Orden de Isabel la Católica by the King of Spain. In 2010 the President of Italy awarded Professor Attard the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.

Professor Attard was a member of the EU Expert Group on Maritime Policy which produced the EU Green Paper on Maritime Policy.

Professor Attard is a member of the Steering Committee for Human Rights (CDDH), Council of Europe, Strasbourg.

In 2006 Professor Attard was appointed Pro-Chancellor and President of the University of Malta Council. In 2011 he was appointed Chancellor of the University by the President of Malta.

In June 2011 Professor Attard was elected Judge at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, Hamburg.

Japanese Relations:

Between 1988 and 1993 Professor Attard was Chairman of the Oil Exploration Division in the Office of the Prime Minister of Malta. In 1989 he negotiated and concluded a continental shelf research programme in the area between Malta and Libya with the Japanese National Oil Corporation.

Between 1989 and 1992 Professor Attard visited, on a number of occasions, Tokyo as a guest of the Japanese National Oil Corporation in order to develop further Japanese-Maltese relations, and to cooperate on the analysis of the research programme conducted by the Japanese Corporation.

In 2011, at the request of the Ambassador of Japan to Malta, Professor Attard, as Chairman of the Malta Branch of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, put forward Judge Hisashi Owada’s nomination as a Judge of the International Court of Justice.

In October 2011 Professor Attard supported the election of Judge Shunji Yanai as President of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.

In March 2012, Professor Attard, at the request of the Ambassador of Japan to Malta, ensured that the Maltese Government obtained the support of the Malta Government for the election of Mr. Koji Sekimizu as Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization.