The American Bar Association (ABA) is one of the principal professional organisations of the American legal profession, advancing professional standards, legal education, ethical practice and the rule of law. Chetcuti Cauchi’s connection with the ABA centres on Dr Jean-Philippe Chetcuti’s membership and forms part of the firm’s longstanding professional engagement with the United States. This is complemented by the involvement of Chetcuti Cauchi lawyers in other US professional legal organisations and by the firm’s dedicated US–Malta legal, immigration and tax practices serving American private clients, families, founders, businesses and their professional advisers.
About the American Bar Association
Founded in 1878, the American Bar Association is a membership organisation representing the American legal profession and pursuing objectives including professional competence and ethics, legal education, public service and advancement of the rule of law.
Its work extends beyond domestic US legal practice. The ABA International Law Section brings together practitioners from the United States and more than 100 countries working across international and comparative law, cross-border transactions, global business, regulation and international legal policy.
For an international law firm advising clients whose personal, family and commercial interests span Malta, Europe and the United States, participation in American professional legal networks provides an important forum for professional exchange and cooperation with US counsel.
Chetcuti Cauchi and the ABA
Dr Jean-Philippe Chetcuti, Senior Partner – Citizenship, Residency and Private Client Tax, is a member of the American Bar Association.
His practice focuses on internationally mobile private clients and families whose affairs frequently involve several legal and tax systems. He advises on Maltese citizenship and residence law, private client taxation and cross-border wealth planning, including matters involving American citizens and US-connected families.
His ABA membership complements more than two decades of work with international lawyers, private client advisers, tax professionals and family offices on the interaction between Maltese law and clients’ wider international arrangements.
The firm’s wider engagement with the American legal profession includes participation in the American Immigration Lawyers Association. Dr Jean-Philippe Chetcuti serves as an AILA international associate representing Malta and participates in its Global Migration Section. His involvement has included speaking at international conferences on global migration and investment migration and an AILA Global Migration Section member-focus interview published in 2026.
This professional engagement extends across the Immigration & Global Mobility leadership. Dr Antoine Saliba Haig, Partner – Immigration & Global Mobility, and Marina Magri, Director – Immigration & Global Mobility, are members of AILA’s Global Migration Section. Their work includes Maltese residence, citizenship, immigration compliance and international mobility matters involving internationally mobile families, HNW individuals and executives.
The ABA and AILA are distinct professional organisations. Their respective memberships form part of a broader pattern of engagement between Chetcuti Cauchi lawyers and the American legal profession.
Membership of the ABA is a professional association and should not be construed as admission to practise US law. Chetcuti Cauchi provides Maltese and relevant cross-border legal and tax advice and, where US domestic legal or tax advice is required, works alongside appropriately qualified US counsel and advisers.
Our American Desks
Chetcuti Cauchi has developed dedicated US-facing capabilities for American citizens, families, founders, investors and businesses whose affairs intersect with Malta.
The USA–Malta Legal & Tax Desk acts as the principal entry point for US-connected clients requiring coordinated Malta advice. It brings together lawyers and tax professionals across immigration, private client tax, property, corporate structuring and related areas.
Our specialist US–Malta Immigration practice advises American individuals and families considering Maltese residence, long-term relocation and citizenship options available under Maltese law.
The US–Malta Tax Advisory practice advises on the Maltese tax consequences of relocation, tax residence, investment, property ownership and private client structuring. We do not provide US domestic tax advice. Malta-side advice is coordinated, where necessary, with the client's US tax advisor or appropriately qualified US professionals within our international network.
These desks allow the firm to approach US–Malta matters as interconnected legal, tax and mobility questions rather than treating immigration, taxation and private wealth planning in isolation.
Professional Connections Supporting US–Malta Work
Professional association membership is most relevant when it contributes to substantive practice. Chetcuti Cauchi’s participation in the ABA and AILA forms part of a wider US-facing practice developed through work with American private clients, entrepreneurs, international families and professional advisers.
For clients whose affairs cross the Atlantic, this provides a professional framework through which Malta legal and tax advice can be coordinated with US counsel while maintaining a clear division between Maltese advice and matters reserved to US-qualified professionals.
