Penny Gane to step down from Fish Legal after 18 years

The Angling Trust and Fish Legal have announced that Penny Gane, Fish Legal’s Head of Practice, will be stepping down in early summer 2025 after 18 years of outstanding service.

Penny joined Fish Legal in 2007 and rose to lead the legal team, becoming Head of Practice in 2016. She has made a profound impact on environmental justice in the UK – securing legal victories that have protected fisheries, upheld anglers’ rights, and held polluters to account.

Most recently, Penny led the Fish Legal team to a landmark High Court victory on behalf of the Pickering Fishery Association, successfully defending an appeal brought by the Government and the Environment Agency. The case exposed widespread failures in regulation to protect and restore rivers across the country and will have far-reaching implications for the enforcement of environmental protections.

This success joins a long list of achievements during Penny’s time at Fish Legal, including launching the first private criminal prosecution of a water company in 20 years and a series of successful civil cases that delivered compensation and clean-up measures for angling clubs affected by pollution.

Penny commented: “After 18 years with the ACA and then Fish Legal – starting as a trainee and working through to lead the practice – I am extremely proud of what the team and I have achieved. Winning the Pickering Fishery Association case on the Costa Beck against the Government means I leave on a real high, with hope that Fish Legal continues to grow stronger, working with anglers to protect our rivers and waterways.”

Penny’s contribution to environmental law and the angling community has been widely recognised. She was recently named in The ENDS Report Power List as one of the UK’s most influential environmental professionals and featured highly in the Angling Times’ most influential people in angling list – testament to her reputation and leadership in the sector.

George Graham, Chair of Fish Legal, said: “Penny has been a tireless champion for our angling members and the health of our rivers. Her calm reasoning and deep legal knowledge have been at the heart of many of Fish Legal’s most important victories. We are immensely grateful for her contribution over the past 18 years.”

Jamie Cook, Chief Executive of Fish Legal, added: “Penny leaves behind a legacy of powerful, effective legal action. Anglers across the UK may not realise the immense thanks we owe her for leading efforts to protect our fisheries and uphold our rights. We’re now seeking a strong successor, someone with the passion and vision to lead a legal team that isn’t afraid to take on major environmental challenges.”

Fish Legal – formerly the Anglers’ Conservation Association (ACA) – has a long, proven track record of success, using the law to protect the environment and defend anglers’ rights. Through court action, the organisation has established rights for the public to access pollution and abstraction data from private water companies, won a major legal battle against a hydroelectric scheme threatening sensitive salmonid habitats and forced upgrades to sewage treatment works to protect habitat for fish. These cases have cemented Fish Legal’s role as a leader in strategic environmental litigation.

Penny’s leadership has come at a time of significant shifts in environmental policy and increasing concern over the state of the UK’s rivers and coastal waters. Mounting pressure from development, intensive agriculture, and systemic pollution has brought the work of Fish Legal into sharper focus. With growing tensions between economic growth and environmental limits, effective legal intervention is becoming more crucial than ever – as a tool for accountability and a driver of change. Fish Legal is now preparing for a new wave of legal challenges to confront failures in regulation, pollution enforcement, and water industry transparency.

The Angling Trust and Fish Legal are inviting applications for a new Head of Practice, a rare and exciting opportunity for an experienced environmental or public interest lawyer to take on a high-profile role with real-world impact. This role combines strategic litigation, environmental advocacy, and team leadership in support of hundreds of thousands of anglers and river users. The successful candidate will help shape the future of one of the UK’s most respected and dynamic environmental law teams and play a central role in protecting our freshwater and marine environments.

Click here for details of the Head of Practice vacancy