Those of you who know me will know I am studying the law and I have always been passionate about human rights. It therefore made sense that, sooner or later, I dip into Amal Clooney’s life to see how she operates in her world, external to her husband. I hope you all enjoy my take on her and her successes.
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I think we all know not to underestimate Amal thanks to Tina Fey at the Golden Globes back in 2015.
- She is a barrister.
- She specialises in public international law, international criminal law and human rights.
- She is of Lebanese-British heritage.
- She has defended former Ukranian prime minster Yulia Tymoshenko, Muammar al-Qaddafi’s intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi and WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange. (source)
- She is a member of the UK’s team of experts on preventing sexual violence in conflict zones. (source)
When I googled “Amal Clooney” the search results revolved around her and her husband, or just her husband, and all of the images were of her at awards nights.
Then, when I googled “Amal Clooney lawyer” boom! All of a sudden we have more “serious” photos of her, dressed as a barrister (often flanked by old white men hovering in the background lolz) and the news articles all commended her on her career, noting her husband as an aside to her success.
It kind of baffles me because her lifestyle is so far out of reach it seems laughable. She escaped hardship, traveling from Lebanon to England as a child, was highly educated and excelled at school. She then followed through various high-profile jobs and the list of those she has represented is huge. I would read the shit out of a memoir should she write one.
After establishing (and excelling in) her career, she found love, got married and had twins. One boy, one girl. Is this real life? As a child I used to dream of this kind of biography. I can only hope that Amal is truly living the life she wants to live, that she is in love with George Clooney and that they are happy.
I always finding it interesting hearing about how quickly people return to work after having children. Everyone is just doing the best that they can, but it often strikes me that those women who return very quickly tend to do so either because they a) have the money and resources to afford and house a live-in nanny or b) have so little money and resources that they must return to work.
Amal is said to have returned to work 3 months after giving birth to her twins. Her work is not without risk – many of the people she has defended are targets of not very nice people, even taking on ISIS when she represented Nadia Murad, a human trafficking survivor. However, after spending so long building the momentum of her career and influence it makes complete sense to me that she would want to get right back into it.
With all of the high profile stuff there are risks. But there is also huge protection that comes with wealth and public profile. So I wish her all the luck in the world, because by all accounts she is doing amazing work and continuing to do so as she builds her life with her husband and children.
Thank you to the following sites:
- https://www.biography.com/people/amal-alamuddin-clooney
- https://www.doughtystreet.co.uk/barristers/profile/amal-clooney
- https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/incredible-life-international-human-rights-lawyer-amal-glooney-george-clooney-a7908651.html
- https://people.com/movies/amal-clooney-heads-back-to-work-three-months-after-delivering-twins/
- https://people.com/babies/george-clooney-amal-pregnant-not-traveling-dangerous-countries/
- https://www.mamamia.com.au/amal-clooney-taking-isis-to-court/
- http://emirateswoman.com/amal-clooney-refugee/
Immskar 