Amal Clooney, the Celebrity Lawyer
The world got introduced to her when she got engaged to the celebrity actor, George Clooney. From then on, Amal Clooney became a woman to be reckoned with. Today, she is one of the most respectable human rights lawyers in the world.
However, Amal Clooney had been around for a while. Years before her engagement and marriage to George, she had been known in the legal profession for her grit, skills and high success rate with her clients. The range of her work spans social justice and human rights issues to represent corporations in regulating their policies and carrying out court actions regarding regulations of the government.
Born to Lebanese parents, Ramzi Alamuddin, a University professor and owner of a travel agency, and Bariaa Alamuddin, an internationally recognized journalist, Amal had always been surrounded by intellectuals.
Amal grew up in London having moved from Lebanon with her family when she was 2 years old due to the ravages of the civil war which tore her country apart in the mid-70s.
She started exhibiting brilliance at a very young age. She attended Dr. Challoner’s High School, asserted herself and went on to win a scholarship to study law at Oxford University beginning in 1996. While there, she developed a keen interest in human rights before graduating.
She went on to pursue a master’s degree in NYU school of Law. While in school, she upgraded her studies with several clerkships, one of which included working at the US court of appeals with Sonia Sotomayor, a future Supreme Court Justice, which exposed her to the world of Law and further cemented her passion for the downtrodden.
Amal’s first employment was at Sullivan & Cromwell, one of the top-ranked law firms in the world. She was recruited as part of the firm’s defense group, and her many duties included representing news-worthy clients, some of which included Enron and Arthur Anderson. Later, Amal refocused her career on International Law which afforded her the opportunity of working with the UN to prosecute the persons responsible or the assassination of Rafic Hariri, former Lebanese prime minister.
Having gathered all these experiences working with various clients of different calibers, Amal returned to London in 2010 to work as a barrister for Doughty Street Chambers. Years later, still at the same law firm, she defended the likes of former Prime Minister of Ukraine, and Julian Assange who is the Wikileaks Chief Editor. She also worked in an advisory capacity for Kofi Annan, for a UN commission, and researched on the use of drones in countering terrorism.
Following her father’s footsteps, Amal has lectured on criminal law in renowned schools such as The Hague Academy of International Law and the University of London. She also serves as a visiting faculty member for the law school in Columbia.
Amal Clooney, a woman with undisputable power, a wife, and a mother of two, manages to do it all effortlessly, and makes us as young women believe we can do whatever we set our minds to, and that despite the fan-fare which may surround us at times, we can stay rooted and grounded in our truths.
