Amal Clooney

Amal Clooney
Born	Amal Alamuddin 3 2, 1978
Birthplace	Beirut, Lebanon
Nationality	British, French, Lebanese
Occupation	Barrister
Known for	International human rights law
Education	New York University (LLM)
Spouse(s)	Template:Marriage
Children	2

Amal Clooney (Template:Née Alamuddin; born 3 February 1978) is a French-British-Lebanese barrister specialising in international law and human rights. Born in Beirut during the Lebanese Civil War, she was raised in England and went on to study at the University of Oxford and New York University School of Law, building a career that has placed her at the centre of some of the most consequential legal cases of the early twenty-first century. She has represented clients including former Maldivian president Mohamed Nasheed, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, Yazidi human rights activist Nadia Murad, Filipino-American journalist Maria Ressa, Azerbaijani journalist Khadija Ismayilova, and Egyptian-Canadian journalist Mohamed Fahmy. In addition to her litigation practice, Clooney holds the position of Professor of Practice in International Law at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford, and co-founded the Clooney Foundation for Justice alongside her husband, American actor George Clooney, in 2016. Her career has drawn widespread public attention both for the significance of her legal work and for her marriage to one of Hollywood's most recognisable figures, though she has consistently sought to direct focus toward the substantive issues at the heart of her cases.

Early Life

Amal Alamuddin was born on 3 February 1978 in Beirut, Lebanon. She was born into a Druze family during the Lebanese Civil War, a protracted conflict that devastated the country from 1975 to 1990. During the war, her family relocated to England, where she was raised and educated.

Growing up in England, Alamuddin attended Dr Challoner's High School, a grammar school in Amersham, Buckinghamshire. The school is a selective state school with a strong academic reputation. Her upbringing in the English educational system provided the foundation for what would become an accomplished academic career. Her family's experience of displacement from Lebanon during a period of intense sectarian conflict is frequently cited as a formative influence on her later career in international human rights law, though Clooney herself has generally maintained a reserved posture regarding the details of her personal history.

Clooney holds French, British, and Lebanese citizenship, reflecting the transnational character of her family background and upbringing. Her multilingual abilities, including fluency in English, French, and Arabic, have been noted as assets in her international legal practice.

Education

Clooney studied at St Hugh's College, University of Oxford, where she read jurisprudence and received a Bachelor of Arts degree. Her time at Oxford exposed her to the British legal tradition and the study of law at one of the world's foremost universities.

Following her undergraduate studies, Clooney pursued graduate legal education in the United States, enrolling at New York University School of Law, where she earned a Master of Laws (LLM) degree. NYU's law school is known for its strength in international law, and Clooney's graduate studies there provided additional specialisation in the areas of public international law and human rights that would come to define her professional career. During her time at NYU, she received the Jack J. Katz Memorial Award for excellence in entertainment law.

Career

Early Legal Career

Clooney began her legal career in the United States, working at the New York office of Sullivan & Cromwell, one of the oldest and most prominent American law firms. At Sullivan & Cromwell, she gained experience in corporate law and litigation, working on cases that included matters before the International Court of Justice and international criminal tribunals. Her early work also included a clerkship at the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

She subsequently worked at the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, and served as an adviser to Kofi Annan, then the United Nations Special Envoy for Syria, on issues relating to the use of force and the prospects for International Criminal Court referrals in the Syrian Civil War. A report she co-authored examining whether Syria could be referred to the ICC was published by Doughty Street Chambers.

Doughty Street Chambers

Clooney became a barrister at Doughty Street Chambers in London, one of the United Kingdom's leading sets of barristers' chambers, with a particular focus on human rights, international law, and public law. Her practice at Doughty Street encompassed a wide range of international law matters, including cases before the International Criminal Court, the International Court of Justice, the European Court of Human Rights, and various United Nations tribunals and commissions.

Her profile at Doughty Street listed her areas of expertise as including public international law, international criminal law, human rights law, and extradition law. She was also listed on the Attorney General's Panel of Counsel, which comprises barristers who are appointed to represent the UK government in legal proceedings, indicating recognition of her competence in public international law by the British government.

Notable Cases and Clients

Clooney's case portfolio has included several matters of international legal and political significance.

Julian Assange

Clooney served as part of the legal team representing Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, in his extradition proceedings. The case raised complex questions about freedom of the press, the scope of espionage statutes, and the rights of individuals facing extradition to the United States. Clooney's involvement in the Assange case brought her public attention as a defender of press freedom.

Mohamed Nasheed

She represented Mohamed Nasheed, the former president of the Maldives, who was convicted in what was described by international observers as a politically motivated trial following his removal from power. Clooney's advocacy on behalf of Nasheed brought renewed international attention to the state of democracy and human rights in the Maldives.

Yulia Tymoshenko

Clooney was involved in efforts on behalf of former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who was imprisoned in a case that the European Court of Human Rights found to have violated her rights.

Mohamed Fahmy

Clooney represented Egyptian-Canadian journalist Mohamed Fahmy, a former Al Jazeera bureau chief who was arrested and tried in Egypt on charges related to his journalistic work. Fahmy was among three Al Jazeera journalists detained in Egypt in a case that prompted international condemnation as an assault on press freedom. Clooney authored an op-ed for The Huffington Post in which she criticised the unfairness of the trial proceedings.

Nadia Murad

Among her most prominent representations, Clooney served as legal counsel for Nadia Murad, a Yazidi woman who survived sexual slavery at the hands of the Islamic State. Murad became a leading activist for the Yazidi community and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2018. Clooney's representation of Murad was part of a broader effort to seek accountability for crimes committed by ISIL against the Yazidi people, including genocide, sexual violence, and human trafficking.

Maria Ressa

Clooney represented Maria Ressa, the Filipino-American journalist and co-founder of the news website Rappler, who faced prosecution in the Philippines on charges that press freedom organisations described as politically motivated. Ressa was subsequently awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021.

Khadija Ismayilova

She also acted on behalf of Khadija Ismayilova, an investigative journalist from Azerbaijan who was imprisoned on charges that were broadly viewed as retaliation for her reporting on corruption within the ruling family of Azerbaijan.

United Nations and International Bodies

In addition to her courtroom practice, Clooney has served in advisory and representative capacities for a number of international organisations and bodies. She served as an adviser to Kofi Annan when he was the United Nations Special Envoy for Syria. She was also a member of a United Nations commission investigating the rules of war in the context of drone strikes.

Her work at the international level has included involvement with the International Bar Association, where she has participated in discussions relating to the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law.

Academic Career

Clooney holds the position of Professor of Practice in International Law at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford. She is also a Senior Fellow at the Oxford Institute of Technology and Justice, an institute she co-founded with the stated aim of harnessing the capabilities of artificial intelligence to increase access to justice globally. These positions have allowed her to combine her practical litigation experience with academic engagement in the development of international legal norms.

Clooney Foundation for Justice

In 2016, Amal and George Clooney co-founded the Clooney Foundation for Justice (CFJ), an organisation focused on advancing justice in courtrooms, communities, and classrooms around the world. The Foundation's TrialWatch initiative monitors criminal trials globally and grades them for fairness, generating reports and advocacy interventions where proceedings fall below international standards. The organisation has worked to document and respond to abuses of the legal process in countries where the judiciary is not independent.

Other Professional Activities

Clooney has co-authored legal publications, including contributions to the Mizaan newsletter published by Doughty Street Chambers, which focused on issues of justice in the Middle East and North Africa.

In 2015, in connection with the Armenian Genocide centenary initiative "100 Lives," Clooney helped establish a scholarship programme to support students from Lebanon.

Personal Life

Amal Alamuddin's relationship with American actor George Clooney became public in 2014 and attracted significant media coverage. Their engagement was announced in April 2014, and the couple married on 27 September 2014 in a private ceremony in Venice, Italy. The wedding was held at the Aman Canal Grande Venice, and was attended by numerous high-profile guests.

The couple have two children, twins born in 2017. In a 2026 interview, Clooney discussed the couple's decision not to share photographs of their children publicly, describing their approach to protecting their children's privacy. In the same period, the couple discussed their hands-on approach to parenting, noting that they employ only one nanny.

The Clooneys divide their time between residences in England, the United States, and elsewhere. George and Amal Clooney have appeared together at numerous public events, including the opening night of the Omega House during the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics.

Recognition

Amal Clooney's legal career has brought her recognition from a range of professional and media institutions. Her inclusion on the Attorney General's Panel of Counsel for public international law was a formal acknowledgment of her standing in British legal practice.

Her representation of two Nobel Peace Prize laureates — Nadia Murad (2018) and Maria Ressa (2021) — is a distinction achieved by few practicing lawyers. In both cases, Clooney's legal advocacy was part of broader international campaigns to defend human rights and press freedom.

Clooney has been the subject of extensive media coverage, a phenomenon attributable both to the profile of her legal cases and to her marriage to George Clooney. Her appearances at events including the Met Gala, film premieres, and international diplomatic forums have been widely covered by fashion and entertainment publications. Publications such as Vogue, Vanity Fair, and the British Vogue have featured her prominently.

Her academic appointment at the University of Oxford as Professor of Practice in International Law represents recognition within the legal academy, placing her among practitioners whose work is considered of sufficient distinction to merit a university position.

Legacy

Amal Clooney's career has unfolded at the intersection of international human rights law, public advocacy, and global media attention. Her caseload — spanning the defence of imprisoned journalists, deposed heads of state, and survivors of genocide — has placed her among the most visible international human rights lawyers of her generation.

Her work on behalf of journalists, including Mohamed Fahmy, Maria Ressa, and Khadija Ismayilova, has contributed to international legal efforts to defend freedom of the press in countries where journalists face prosecution for their reporting. The cases have formed part of a broader pattern of advocacy by the international legal community against the criminalisation of journalism.

Her representation of Nadia Murad helped to amplify the case for international accountability for crimes committed by the Islamic State against the Yazidi people, contributing to a body of legal and advocacy work that resulted in formal investigations by international bodies. The establishment of the Clooney Foundation for Justice's TrialWatch programme represents an institutional contribution to the monitoring of fair trial standards globally, providing a mechanism for ongoing scrutiny of judicial proceedings in countries where the independence of the judiciary is in question.

As an academic, Clooney's co-founding of the Oxford Institute of Technology and Justice reflects engagement with emerging questions about the role of technology, particularly artificial intelligence, in the administration of justice — an area of growing importance in international law and governance.

The combination of her legal practice, academic positions, foundation work, and public profile has made Clooney a figure whose influence extends beyond the courtroom into broader public discourse about human rights, the rule of law, and the protection of fundamental freedoms.